3D Injection Molding

Inox Cast: Your 3D Injection Molding Expert Provider

Inox Cast is one of the premier distributors and manufacturing experts of the 3D injection molding process. We have an extensive range of products available at competitive yet reasonable prices. We designed them to offer you better savings and capabilities. To understand what our 3D injection molding is, continue to read this guide.

Injection molding is the most typical manufacturing method in the field of plastic. This is primarily implemented because of its reasonable costs from tests, designs, and tooling.

However, nowadays, the major part of plastic products are fabricated by injection molding, particularly 3d injection molding process. Even the manufacturing molds can uneconomically expensive and laborious, fortunately, these molds always don’t require to be rounded out of metal. Therefore, it can be 3D printed.

3D print injection molding is the cost-efficient backup to machining molds. It helps the molded product to withstand the pressure and heat of the injection molding procedures. With technology advanced injection molding machines and temperature-resistant 3D printing materials, creating 3D printed injection molds in-house became possible.

Inox Cast is the best choice for 3D injection molding. In the process, we use several raw quality materials for long-lasting final 3D injection molds.

Here are the common materials we used:

• Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)
• Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETG)
• Polypropylene (PP)
• Polyamide (Nylon)
• Polyoxymethylene (POM)
• Thermoplastic Elastomers (TPE)

Inox Cast 3D injection molding is a more preferred method nowadays since it is able to simplify workflow. It is easy to maintain, operate, and easy to implement. However, this method can be done with material jetting, SLA, SLS, and FDM. Overall this provides smooth surfaces and high dimensional accuracy for your ideal injection molds.

Since founded in 1997, Inox Cast has accumulated wide experience in the manufacturing system, especially in the 3D injection molding process.

Send us your inquiries today!

3D Injection Molding: The Ultimate Guide

In this guide, you will learn everything about 3D injection molding process.

Whether you want to learn how to choose best material, applications classification or how 3D injection molding works, you will find all information right here.

Let’s dive right in:

1.  What Is 3D Injection Molding?

3D injection molding is an additive process of creating functional prototypes and parts by building up plastic materials.

It uses desktop 3D printers, temperature-tolerant 3D printing materials and injection molding machines.

Essentially, 3D injection molding provides a cheaper and more flexible alternative to producing molds used for parts manufacturing.

3D injection molding

This process produces parts with similar material specifications as components from traditional serial molds.

It is a procedure that revolutionizes the injection molding industry significantly in several ways, as you will find out in this guide.

2.  Significance Of 3D Injection Molding

Before producing your parts, it is imperative to determine whether you will be using a mold to make 20 or 2,000 parts.

Traditionally, molds needed for CNC machining to attain high tolerance, but such materials require high set-up costs.

3D injection molding gives reasonable design freedom; hence it makes it easy for you to produce a wide range of different parts irrespective of complexity.

You can also use this method to effectively produce low-run injection molding dies.

Besides, 3D printed molds enable quick verification of mold design, and this mitigates financial risk of investing in a costly metal mold.

3D injection molding is also imperative because it allows you to produce parts that are relatively small.

For instance, it is easier to produce parts of less than 150mm using this process.

Furthermore, this process is best suited for applications with reasonably low production volumes.

If you are producing between 50-100 parts, 3D injection molding comes in handy as the most cost-effective process in such circumstances.

This type of injection molding is also significant, especially where time is a concern.

Ordinarily, you can produce parts using 3D injection molding within two weeks as opposed to the traditional means, which takes up to seven weeks.

And importantly, since design changes and iterations are common aspects in part manufacturing, 3D injection molding comes in handy.

It allows you to easily make such changes at different phases of the production process, ensuring you attain the best desired final product.

3D injection molding

In essence, 3D injection molding is quite a vital element in overall plastic part production process.

3.  How To Print 3D Injection Molding

Ordinarily, 3D printing injection molding is relatively more or less similar to how you print other 3D printed objects.

The core steps involved in this injection molding process include the following;

Step 1: Setting Up Modeling Program

You have to start the process by adjusting your program’s setting.

It allows you to ensure that your units are accurate to enable printing your model to the correct scale.

Set up the grid lines to easily create and manipulate the model depending on preferred units.

Step 2: Plan The Design

Here, the key issues to take into account include minimum wall thickness and detail.

Essentially, these measurements often vary based on printer and nature of material used.

Of course, minimum wall thickness refers to how thick the thinnest part of the part is.

Ideally, the part needs to be thick enough to print in the desired material.

Detail level is also fundamental consideration since 3D printers can only form details up to specific levels.

Determine the detail level your part requires and clearance comparison for moving parts to prevent accidental fusing during printing process.

Step 3: Create The Model

At this point, you need to create the design, whether simple or complicated.

You need to use CAD software such as AutoCAD and Fusion 360 when designing the 3D injection molds

Ensure you capture and include all the relevant details white at it.

Next is converting the design and saving it in STL file format, and sliced it into G-code.

Step 4: Print

It is the ultimate step in 3D injection molding printing process.

Molds are printed layer by layer using a 3D printing machine.

Once complete, they are fitted into metallic frames awaiting injection molding process.

4.  Best Materials For 3D Injection Molding

Choosing the right material to use in making molds for 3D injection molding is quintessential.

You need to find a resin with best properties suitable for your various application demands.

Specifically, you need to select a material with excellent strength and stiffness.

Such mechanical properties guarantee the mold can endure pressure generated during injection molding.

Moreover, the ideal material for this process should be resistant to high temperatures.

When selecting materials for 3D injection molding, high dimensional precision and smooth surfaces are vital factors to have in mind.

Nevertheless, the notable materials used in 3D injection molding process include the following;

ABS

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene is a common thermoplastic polymer with a glass transition temperature of about 105 °C.

It is amorphous thus hardly has a definite melting point.

PETG

Polyethylene terephthalate filaments are notable for their ease of printability, water resistance and smooth surface finish.

It adheres properly to the bed with negligible warping.

Besides, PETG is almost odorless when printing making it an ideal choice for making molds for 3D injection molding.

TPE

Thermoplastic elastomers are substances that exhibit thermoplastic and elastomeric properties.

TPE is easy to shape into fabricated articles since it portrays thermoplastic characteristics above their melt temperatures.

Nylon

It refers to any synthetic plastic material consisting of polyamides of relatively high molecular weight.

Nylon is more or less similar to silk thermoplastic, often derived from petroleum and melt-processed into fibers, shapes and films.

PP

Polypropylene is a thermoplastic polymer manufactured through chain-growth polymerization from monomer propylene.

It exhibits a melting point of 160 °C, making it among the suitable materials to consider for molds in 3D injection molding.

3D injection mold

5.  Advantages Of 3D Injection Molding

3D printing injection molding offers the best option for producing injection molds for making a wide range of plastic parts.

Some of the unique benefits that this process brings on board include the following;

Flexibility And Efficiency

This mold making technique for injection molding reduces design and production time significantly.

You can print a mold and simply tweak the design to print another one if unsatisfied with the original one.

Economical

Conventional way of producing injection molds is quite expensive and time-consuming.

It needs precise machinery and expertise from mold makers.

But 3D printing injection molding is relatively cheap since you can save up to 80% of costs compared to traditional techniques.

Longevity

3D printed molds are ideal for shorter production runs and guarantee adequate service lifespan depending on the specific project it is designed for.

Turnaround Time

Creating 3D molds for injection molding is relatively fast.

It takes up to 2 weeks to create adequate 3D printing molds for injection molding compared to up to 7 weeks for steel tool machining.

6.  Types Of 3D Injection Molding Methods

They are quite a number, but the main ones often used are as follows;

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

This technique involves melting thermoplastic filament and applying it in layers through a nozzle.

In some instances, it is known as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) or melts strand deposition.

It is a relatively fast operation, cost-effective and has minimal material waste.

fused deposition modeling

However, FDM is unsuitable for producing parts with extremely thin wall thicknesses.

Stereolithography (SLA)

It is a vat photopolymerization printing technique that involves gradual lowering of build platform into a vat photopolymer resin and carefully cured by a UV laser.

This method is accurate, flexible and easy for locking objects.

stereolithography

It also produces parts with a smooth surface, but design freedom can be restricted due to needed support structure.

Multijet Modelling (MJM)

It is an inkjet printing method where numerous printheads move horizontally as they place photocurable plastic resin layers on top of each other.

multijet modelling

This process allows you to combine different materials with each other and guarantees highest degree of detail with finest structure.

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

It involves fusing powder bed layer by layer using a laser.

This method is suitable for producing delicate parts in large volumes.

selective laser sintering

Moreover, it does not require supporting structures, and it is mechanically and thermally resilient.

Selective Laser Melting (SLM)

It is a powder bed fusion printing technique relatively similar to SLS, only that it uses metal powder to create parts.

selective laser melting

Laser melts the material to create a homogenous part rather than sintering it.

SLM offers excellent design freedom and makes it easy to create moving parts.

7.  3D Injection Mold Configurations

Typically, 3D printed injection molds are often produced in two standard configurations as follows;

Aluminum Frames Mold Inserts

It is a common mold configuration notable for producing accurate parts.

This mold is 3D printed and inserted into aluminum frames that are somewhat rigid and to support against heat and pressure of injection molding nozzle.

The aluminum frame is also fundamental in inhibiting mold from warping, especially after repeated usage.

Stand Alone Molds

The mold in this configuration is fully 3D printed, and a rigid aluminum support frame is not necessarily used.

Hence, you can easily integrate complex cooling channels into the mold.

However, molds created using this approach need more 3D printing material and, in many instances, are prone to warping after extensive use.

8.  Features Of Ideal 3D Injection Molding Material

A suitable material for creating molds for 3D injection molding needs to exhibit a few fundamental properties.

The notable ones include the following;

Excellent Stiffness

Ordinarily, 3D injection molding involves removing parts repetitively, which often causes wear to the mold.

Therefore, tough materials are necessary to maintain mold accuracy over time.

Exceptional Temperature Resistance

An ideal 3D mold material should have a high heat deflection temperature to endure thermal and mechanical loads applied during material injection.

Notably, the temperature decreases rapidly during solidification.

High Level Of Detail

High dimensional accuracy and a pretty smooth surface are among the core requirements of injection molding.

Ideally, highly precision molds always produce accurate parts, which is fundamental in 3D injection molding process.

9. Design Guidelines For 3D Printed Mold

When designing a 3D mold for injection molding, there are specific practices that you need to follow.

Some of the ideal guidelines include the following;

• In SLA printing, the inner mold faces should ensure there is no support in contact with them.
• 3D printing mold at relatively low layer height helps produce smoother molded parts since molds tend to have less visible print lines.
• To facilitate expelling of trapped air during molding process, it is advisable to include shallow air vents from the cavity edge to mold edge.
• Offset engraved and embossed details from the surface by at least 1mm.
• If you are using 3D printed mold for more than 20 runs, it is advisable to include channels in the design for inserting metal rods. It helps in reinforcing mold and reducing warpage as well as enhancing cooling times.

10.  How To Design Parts For 3D Injection Molding

Before printing 3D injection molds, it is imperative to consider some fundamental aspects, such as the following;

• Always maintain an even wall thickness across the whole part
• Include radii of all corners and edges
• Ensure you keep the features and walls as thin as possible
• Include thin ribs and gussets to enhance strength of a part instead of increasing wall thickness.
• Add a daft angle of at least 2° to assist in part removal from the bold.
• Always know the quantity of units you want to make since this process is best suited for low-volume manufacturing.
• You can use a printing service route for designing and printing molds to your exact specifications without too much input.

11.  Applications Of 3D Injection Molding

Beyond injection molding, 3D printed molds can also be used in a wide range of applications across different sectors.

The notable areas include the following;

• Jewelry casting
• Silicone molding
• Vacuum forming and thermoforming
• Vulcanized rubber molding
• Metal casting

The important aspect of these applications is ensuring you use the suitable material for the respective project.

12.  Cost Of 3D Injection Molding

Technically, 3D injection molding is a cost-effective process.

The set-up and overall tooling costs for this process are low thus preferred in production of low volume parts.

However, this affordability often varies based on several factors like the following;

• Material – Different materials used for making molds in 3D injection molding usually have cost variance.

Some are slightly expensive, whereas others are a bit cheaper depending on the actual properties it possesses.

• Actual Design – Mold designs can be simple or complex. Ordinarily, simple designs tend to be cheaper, whereas complex ones are somewhat expensive since they require more input and details.
• Manufacturer – The Company offering 3D injection molding service also determines the actual cost.

Some manufacturers’ charges are a bit higher, and others are somewhat reasonable. Generally, it depends on many variables, such as brand positioning in the market.

In essence, the overall cost of 3D injection molding is low, but it is not necessarily fixed. It varies based on different elements.

More Resources:

2K Injection Molding

Thermoplastic Injection Molding

Custom Plastic Molding

Injection Molding Process

For all your 3D injection molding processes, contact us now.