How is Moby made?

Moby is a rotationally molded product. Rotational molding, also known as roto-molding, is a molding process for creating many kinds of mostly hollow items, typically of plastic.

 

A heated hollow mold is filled with a charge or shot weight of material, in our case it’s 100% recycled HDPE – high-density polyethylene. The plastic we use is a combination of pre and post consumer material. The percentage varies depending on what is available. It comes in many different colors so we add black pigment to even out the color. The black is critical to blocking UV as well, thus keeping algae growth to a minimum. If you have a clear or translucent rain barrel you already know how quickly they can turn green and start to smell. If yours is transparent we recommend you paint it to help prevent light from entering the barrel. Krylon Fusion is one type of paint you can use that will adhere to the plastic. 

    

Once filled with a shot of plastic the mold is then slowly rotated in an oven (usually around two perpendicular axes) causing the softened material to disperse and stick to the walls of the mold. Moby’s mold is case aluminum and is Teflon coated to help the barrel release from the mold once complete. In order to maintain even thickness throughout the part, the mold continues to rotate at all times during the heating and cooling phase to avoid sagging or deformation also during the cooling phase. 

  

Once the mold has cooled the barrel is removed and cleaned up for shipping. The lid and barrel are actually two separate molds but the process is the same. Any barrels or lids that do not meet our stringent quality standards are sent to the grinder to become a rain barrel at a later time. Moby has always been made in the USA! We strive to source local materials and labor to bring you the very best rain barrel on the market.

Thanks for your support!
Lynn & Mike