Side-gate injection molding apparatus and side-gate nozzle assembly

A side-gate injection molding apparatus comprising:

• a pair of cavity inserts received in a mold plate, each cavity insert defining at least a portion of a mold cavity;
• a side-gate nozzle assembly positioned between the pair of the cavity inserts, the side-gate nozzle assembly including
• a nozzle body having
• a nozzle body flow channel extending through the nozzle body,
• a heater coupled to the nozzle body,
• a slot extending across a width of a downstream side of the nozzle body, the slot being open-ended and including a pair of side walls and a bottom wall, and
• a load component received in the slot, the load component having a pair of ends, first and second longitudinal sides extending between the pair of ends, and a load component flow channel in fluid communication with the nozzle body flow channel and terminating at a respective load component outlet in each end of the pair of ends of the load component;
• and
• a pair of side-gate tip assemblies, each side-gate tip assembly received in a respective cavity insert and disposed adjacent to a respective end of the pair of ends of the load component, each side-gate tip assembly having a tip member with a tip flow channel in fluid communication between the load component flow channel and a respective mold cavity via a respective mold gate,
• wherein in operation lengthwise thermal expansion of the load component pushes the pair of side-gate tip assemblies against a respective bearing surface of the respective cavity insert in which each side-gate tip assembly is received to promote a fluid seal between each load component outlet and a respective tip flow channel inlet, each bearing surface of the cavity inserts being perpendicular to the pair of side walls of the slot.