While injection molding is traditionally considered a mass production-only manufacturing process due to its high tooling costs, leveraging 3D printing to make injection molds can allow you to use this process to produce high-quality, repeatable parts for prototyping and low volume production.
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In this comprehensive guide, learn how you can use 3D-printed injection molds with benchtop and industrial machines to efficiently and affordably produce hundreds of prototypes and working parts that speed product development, reduce costs and lead times, and take best products on the market.
Low Volume Injection Molding vs. Traditional Injection Molding:
Injection molding is one of the leading processes for the manufacture of plastics. It is a cost effective and extremely repeatable technology that produces high quality parts for mass production. As a result, it is widely used for the mass production of identical parts to tight tolerances.
Injection molding is a fast, intensive process that uses high temperatures and pressure to inject molten material into a mold. The cast material depends on the scope of the fabrication project. The most popular materials are various thermoplastics, such as ABS, PS, PE, PC, PP or TPU, but metals and ceramics can also be injection molded. The mold consists of a cavity that houses the injected molten material and is designed to closely reflect the final characteristics of a part.
Molds are traditionally made of metal by CNC machining or electrical discharge machining (EDM). These are expensive industrial methods that require specialized equipment, high-end software, and skilled labor. As a result, a metal mold typically takes four to eight weeks to produce and costs anywhere from $2,000 to $100,000+ depending on the shape and complexity of the part. For smaller part quantities, the cost, time, specialized equipment, and skilled labor required to fabricate the mold from common tool metals and fabrication methods often make injection molding on this scale difficult. impossible to obtain. However, there are alternatives to metal mold machining.
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