Most failed purchases of injection moulding machines and presses do not fail on the machine. They fail on the fit: a mould that does not pass between the tie bars, a die whose shut height sits outside the press’s adjustment, a robot that cannot talk to the controller, or a guarding arrangement that the buyer’s own safety inspector will not accept. Each of these can be checked on paper in Japan, before the machine is bought — and almost none can be fixed cheaply once it has arrived.
This applies whether the machine is new or used. A used machine adds the question of condition, which has its own articles; the fit, the peripherals, the power and the transport are the same either way.
💬 Have a Japanese moulding machine or press in view and want the fit checked against your tools before you commit? Sunsho Trade sources machinery from Japan and reads the Japanese specification sheets. Send us the machine and the tool data.
Tonnage is the start of the fit check, not the end of it
Clamp force or press tonnage only tells you whether the machine can hold or form the part; whether your moulds and dies physically fit, open and run is decided by a set of dimensions that must be compared line by line.
Buyers search by tonnage because it is the headline number in every listing. It is necessary — too little clamp force and the mould flashes; too little press capacity and the part does not form — but two machines of the same tonnage can differ in platen size, tie-bar spacing, opening stroke and injection capacity enough that one runs your moulds and the other cannot.
For an injection moulding machine, put your mould drawings next to the machine’s specification sheet:
| Mould dimension | Machine dimension to compare | What happens if it does not fit |
|---|---|---|
| Mould width and height | Distance between tie bars; platen size | The mould cannot be loaded, or only by removing a tie bar |
| Mould thickness | Minimum and maximum mould height (daylight) | The clamp cannot close on it, or cannot open far enough |
| Opening needed to eject the part | Opening stroke | The part cannot drop or be picked out |
| Locating ring and sprue bush | Locating ring diameter; nozzle radius and orifice | The nozzle does not seat; material leaks |
| Ejector layout | Ejector rod pattern and stroke | The ejector plate cannot be driven |
| Part plus runner weight | Shot capacity of the injection unit | Short shots, or the screw runs at the edge of its capacity |
| Hot runner, cores, valve gates | Controller zones, hydraulic or pneumatic core pulls, signals | Extra controllers and wiring added on site |
For a press the logic is the same, with different lines: bed and bolster size, shut height and slide adjustment, stroke and strokes per minute, die-cushion capacity, and the feed line — uncoiler, straightener and feeder — if you run from coil. One point causes repeated misunderstanding on mechanical presses: the rated tonnage is available only near the bottom of the stroke, so a forming or drawing operation that needs force higher up the stroke must be checked against the press’s capacity curve, not its nameplate figure. Ask the seller for the curve.
If the moulds or dies themselves are being made in Japan, or moved from another factory, the tooling contract is a separate document — see mould and tooling ownership for the clauses that protect the tool.
Decide the peripherals and who joins them up
A moulding cell or press line is several machines from several suppliers; name who supplies each one and who is responsible for making them work together, or the gaps will surface at commissioning.
An injection moulding machine on its own makes nothing. Around it sit a resin dryer and loader, a mould temperature controller, often a chiller, a take-out robot or sprue picker, a conveyor, and for some moulds a hot-runner controller. A press line adds the coil handling, the feeder, die-change equipment and sometimes a transfer system.
Three questions avoid most of the trouble:
- Who supplies each peripheral? The machine seller, a separate Japanese supplier, or a local supplier in your country. Local supply can be sensible for bulky items such as chillers; but then the interface has to be specified.
- Who owns the interface? Robot-to-machine signals, safety circuits that stop the machine when the robot cell is opened, and the hot-runner signals all have to match. Ask the machine seller and the robot supplier to each name the interface they use, and get confirmation that they match, before you order either.
- Whose name is on the safety of the whole cell? In many countries, combining machines into a cell can make the person who combines them responsible for the safety of the assembly. Confirm how your own country treats this before you decide to assemble the cell yourself.
Power, water and air: write the site into the order
Give the seller your actual supply voltage, frequency, cooling-water and compressed-air conditions in the order, because a moulding machine or press specified for a Japanese factory may need a transformer, a different motor or a different control voltage at yours.
A machine built for a Japanese factory is wired for Japanese supply voltages, and Japan is split between 50 Hz and 60 Hz. A hydraulic machine’s pump motor, a press’s main motor and the barrel heater bands are all rated for a supply; running them on a different one can change speed, output or heating. For a new machine, the seller can build to your supply. For a used one, read the nameplate and the electrical drawings before you buy — the region-by-region checks are in buying used equipment in Japan, and the reading of the nameplate lines is in importing Japanese furnaces and boilers into Vietnam.
Cooling water matters more than buyers expect. Oil coolers on hydraulic machines, mould temperature controllers and chillers all depend on water quality and temperature at your site. Ask the seller to state the cooling-water requirement and compare it with what your plant actually supplies.
💬 Want the electrical and utility requirements read against your factory before you place the order? Send us the specification sheet and your site data.
Safety guarding: built for Japan, checked against your country
A machine designed and guarded for the Japanese market is not automatically accepted elsewhere; find out which standard or marking your country requires for moulding machines and presses, and ask for it at the specification stage.
Injection moulding machines and presses are among the machines where safety standards are most specific. For reference, the international standards a buyer and seller can both name are:
| Machine | International safety standard | Points that commonly differ by market |
|---|---|---|
| Injection moulding machine (hydraulic or electric clamp) | ISO 20430 | Guard interlocks, area behind the mould, access to the mould area for large machines, robot cell integration |
| Presses working cold metal | ISO 16092-1 (general requirements) | Guarding of the tool area, light curtains, two-hand controls, stopping-performance monitoring |
| Mechanical presses | ISO 16092-2 | Clutch and brake monitoring; servo-drive presses |
| Hydraulic presses | ISO 16092-3 | Hydraulic circuit safety, slide fall prevention |
ISO 20430 does not cover the mould itself or the exhaust system, and it applies only to machines manufactured after its publication; older used machines were built to whatever rules applied at the time. Checked on 19 October 2026 against the ISO and national standards body catalogue listings.
The question to ask is not “is the machine safe?” but “what will our inspector, our insurer or our customs officer ask for?”. In the European Union, for example, Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 on machinery replaces the Machinery Directive and applies from 14 January 2027 (Article 54), and the instructions must be in a language that users can easily understand, as decided by the Member State concerned (Article 10(7)). Other countries have their own rules. Confirm the current rule in your country with the authority or a certification body, then write it into the order. Retrofitting guarding, light curtains or monitoring onto a finished machine, especially a used one, is expensive and sometimes not possible.
New or used: what changes in the check
A used machine needs everything above plus a condition check of the parts that wear — screw and barrel, check valve, clamp mechanism and hydraulics on a moulding machine; clutch, brake, slide guides and frame on a press.
The general method — maker records, hours, a test run under power, parts availability — is set out in buying used equipment in Japan. For these two machine types, ask in addition for:
- Moulding machines: the screw and barrel wear history, any check-ring replacement, platen parallelism, hydraulic oil and leak condition, and the controller’s alarm history.
- Presses: the clutch and brake service history, slide-guide clearance, any frame repairs or cracks, the overload-protection device’s records, and the condition of the die cushion.
If the machine is going to Vietnam, the age limit and the import file under Circular 56/2026 come first — see importing used Japanese machinery into Vietnam. Other countries have their own used-machinery rules; check the current rule in your country before you pay a deposit.
Dismantling and transport: plan the reassembly before the first bolt comes out
Large moulding machines and presses often travel in sections; agree who dismantles, how each section is marked and recorded, and who reassembles and levels it at your site, before the machine is taken apart.
A large press may travel as crown, slide, bed and uprights; a large injection moulding machine may travel with the injection unit separated from the clamp. Hydraulic oil is drained, open ports are sealed, and the sections may need flat-rack or break-bulk shipping rather than a container. Each of those steps decides whether the machine can be rebuilt correctly.
| Step | What to agree | Record to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Before dismantling | Video of the machine running, final parameter and program backup | Video, controller backup, alarm history |
| Dismantling | Who does it — seller, maker’s technician or rigger | Photographs of every connection, labelled cables and hoses |
| Packing | Corrosion protection, sealing of hydraulic ports, crating of controls | Packing list by section, with weights and dimensions |
| Shipping | Container, flat rack or break-bulk; lifting points | Lashing plan, shock indicators |
| Reassembly | Who rebuilds and levels it; foundation or pit drawing for presses | Reassembly checklist, levelling record |
| Restart | Test with your own mould or die | Signed site-acceptance record |
Presses frequently need a foundation, and sometimes a pit, designed to the maker’s drawing. Ask for that drawing early — the civil work at your site often takes longer than the voyage. Installation, commissioning and training are covered in installing Japanese machinery abroad, and the export documents in export from Japan, documents and flow.
Buying machine tools or packaging lines at the same time? See new Japanese machine tools and packaging and food processing machinery, or the full list on our industrial sourcing page.
💬 Want the dismantling, packing and reassembly planned and recorded on the Japan side? Tell us about the machine and your site.
Frequently asked questions
1. Is a higher-tonnage machine always the safer choice?
No. A larger machine can run a small mould inefficiently, and its minimum mould height or platen size may not suit your tools. Choose by the full fit check — tie-bar spacing, mould height, opening stroke, shot capacity — not by tonnage alone.
2. Can my existing moulds run on a Japanese machine?
Often, if the dimensions match. Compare the locating ring, nozzle radius, ejector pattern, mould height and tie-bar spacing with the mould drawings. Where they differ, adapter plates or a new locating ring may solve it; agree who supplies them before shipment.
3. Why does a mechanical press not deliver its rated tonnage throughout the stroke?
Because on a mechanical press the rated capacity is available only near the bottom of the stroke. If your operation needs force higher up, check the seller’s capacity curve against the force your process actually requires.
4. Will a used Japanese press or moulding machine meet our country’s safety rules?
Not automatically. It was built for the rules in force in Japan when it was made. Find out what your country requires, compare it with the guarding and controls actually fitted, and price any retrofit before you buy.
5. Who should reassemble a press that travels in sections?
Ideally the people who dismantled it, or a technician familiar with the model, working from the photographs and checklist made during dismantling. Agree this in the purchase, together with the foundation drawing and the site-acceptance test.
Sources: ISO 20430 (injection moulding machines, safety requirements); ISO 16092-1, -2 and -3 (machine tools safety, presses) — titles, scope and status checked against ISO and national standards body catalogue listings; Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 on machinery, Articles 10(7) and 54, EUR-Lex. Checked on 19 October 2026.
More industrial sourcing guides: Making Moulds and Dies in Japan for an Overseas Factory · Japanese Machinery on Overseas Power: Volts, Hz and Marks · Buying Used Japanese Machinery from Abroad: The Full Route. All guides by category are on the industrial sourcing page.