Pauline, injecting wax should be easier than plastic. With the much lower melting point, your mold will experience much less stress, should last longer, and not require as much engineering consideration.

I sent in a ticket to Formlabs and they are checking for me to see if there would be a reaction between Polyurethane resin and the Formlabs resin as I was thinking of using the tough or Flexible resin as a Mold and just pour in the Poly replacing the need for Silicone Molds. (I use Smooth-On 321 and a few others) If a person can get more then 50 parts from a printed mold this may be a viable alternative. Main reason I am thinking is I do a lot of thin parts and experience a lot warping whereas a printed mold can have a thicker outer wall thus eliminating the warping. Here is a couple of screen shots of one of the items what I make for the hobby industry.

I made a big gasket for my champaign bucket vacuum chamber using a four-section printed mold. IMG_20150521_161846.jpg3264×2448 1.54 MB IMG_20160902_225718.jpg2448×3264 1.06 MB I’ve since added another stick-on seal to the urethane, as busting it out of the mold was not too kind to it, and it had a couple rough spots that leaked a bit…

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The design and manufacture of custom molded plastic parts can seem simple at first, but there are many details that must be taken into consideration depending on how the part will be used. For example, there are mechanical properties like:

Hand operated injection molders for DIY injection molding. Ideal for R&D, materials testing, STEM programs. 3D print your own molds.

I made the mistake of not releasing my first mold for simpact because I’d molded silicone parts a bunch of times in printed molds, and they came right out. With simpact, and no release agent, I had to basically break the mold off with a hammer!

Yes it can be done. How difficult? No clue, but let us know if you try!! I assume outsourcing to someone like Fathom who already has this set up would be a good use of outsourcing. If you think you will be doing this sort of development a lot though, then I am sure bringing in a manual machine would be beneficial. I wouldn’t expect it to be as plug n play as a Form 2 though.

AIM Processing has acquired Technical Molded Products, solidifying its position as a leading injection molder in the western United States. Key ...

Wow, great replies! Thanks everyone. Looks like my timing was perfect too, seeing as the white paper was release just days later.

It is not difficult to do the injection molding - you can see this under https://plasticlabs.wordpress.com/2016/09/06/how-to-bring-a-3d-printed-2-cavity-injection-mold-to-life-part-1/

it’s surprisingly easy for small parts! We just finished up a collaboration with Galomb Inc and shared our findings in the whitepaper which went out today.

Discover AIM Processing's customer small part injection molding services, designed to deliver precise, high-quality components for industries requiring intricate and complex plastic parts.

I’ve molded smooth-on simpact urethane resins (Shore A 60 and 85 IIRC) in printed molds before. You MUST really, really, really release them well prior, polish up the released surfaces with a soft cloth, and re-release/polish before every pour.

As a leading small plastic parts manufacturer, we work with engineering grade plastics to create custom molded plastic parts that match the requirements for a part with properties like: chemical resistance, flexural strength, durometer, and yield strength to name a few. There are so many material options, and we can help you make the right choice for your program.

Definitely interested to see how others want to push this forward and try more elaborate things so please share your results on the forums! Happy to talk more about your specific application if you need any help figuring out the best approach.

I’m thinking this would be helpful to do in-house, after functional prototype tests and before short runs with a service like QuickParts or ProtoLabs. I think I’ve only seen one example of this with a Formlabs printer:

AIM Processing specializes in small part plastic injection molding. We define "small plastic parts" as roughly the size of your fingernail to the size of your hand. Injection molding is a process in which plastic resin, in pellet form, is heated and sheared until it reaches a viscous state.

This can save you a boatload of cash if you don’t need parts that are extra rigid or fiber reinforced. It’s urethane so it’s reasonably safe to work with also.

Maintaining proper wall thickness is one of the most important aspects of designing custom injection molded parts. Overly thick walls not only waste ...

Home Injection Molding: This Instructable explains how to make real injection molded plastic parts using a simple hand-operated machine. I realize most of you reading this don't have one of these machines, but I decided to post here anyway just to...

“We received the charger base and I want you all to know it looks FANTASTIC! Thank you for getting us this one for the BOD meeting.”

Then there are factors like the manufacturability of gate locations, draft, and ejector pins. It's enough to make your head spin.

How difficult would it be to DIY rapid injection mold (plastic parts)? My understanding is that rapid injection molding means injecting hot plastic into a mold which was 3D printed. Seems this would be possible with a machine like this:

3D printed molds can be used for injection molding low-volume production plastic parts. Learn how with the Formlabs white paper.

It is then injected under enormous pressure into a steel or aluminum mold, cooled until it hardens, and ejected. With small part injection molding, we are able to manufacture complex, small shapes in a cost-effective, repeatable process.