Our digital factories create prototypes and low-volume parts fast, while our manufacturing network, offers advanced capabilities and volume pricing.

An unscrewing action is an automated motor or manual hand screwing that creates screw or threaded features. These actions prevent damage to the threads with careful unwinding between cycles.

Because of the initial capital investment in tooling, injection molding makes sense for higher volumes of parts. Our mold cost starts at $1,495 and will vary depending on part geometry and complexity. Other factors that will impact injection molding cost are lead times and material.

Hand loads are used for prototype and low-volume tooling as a cheaper alternative to automated slides and lifters. Hand loads can be adaptable to different part configurations in one tool.

We combine scientific (or decoupled) molding techniques, which optimize and lock in processing parameters to ensure part consistency—with extra attention paid to critical-to-quality dimensions using our proprietary automated CMM process. Plus, with every order you'll get:

Unmatched Lead TimesReduce your product development cycle by weeks—sometimes months—and bridge to production with injection-molded parts within days. Some injection molding orders can ship in as fast as 1 day.

Hand-loaded cores are substitutes for slides or lifters, and are manually placed features which are molded around and then manually removed from the part. These are replaced each cycle.

Side actions are beneficial because they increase the options for what part geometries your part can have. However, side actions can dramatically increase molding production costs, so it is helpful to consider whether you need them or whether you can avoid them by designing slot features.

Lifters create and release internal undercut features. Similar to slides, lifters move into place via a cam as the tool closes and move away as the tool opens.

Slides create and release external undercut features by collapsing into place via a cam as the tool closes. It then pulls away as the tool opens.

We do quoting a little differently. When you request an injection molding quote, you'll not only receive accurate pricing, but also a manufacturing analysis—within just a few hours. Our online quoting platform also provides you with gate and ejector pin layouts and a price curve tool to help select the best tooling option for your project.

No Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs)Procuring parts on demand, without MOQs, helps you manage market or demand volatility and provides a cost-effective source for bridge production, line-down emergencies, end-of-life production, or product customization.

When side actions are unavoidable, it is important to understand which type of side action your manufacturer recommends for your part, as each has different cost impacts on your tooling costs. The following table describes the different types and their use cases.

Design for Manufacturing FeedbackEvery quote includes real-time pricing and design analysis. We evaluate your 3D CAD and help identify any features that may pose challenges during the molding process such as difficult to machine undercuts and insufficient draft.

In most cases, we can maintain a machining tolerance of +/- 0.003 in. (0.08mm) with an included resin tolerance that can be greater than but no less than +/- 0.002 in./in. (0.002mm/mm).

Proto Labs, Inc. 5540 Pioneer Creek Dr. Maple Plain, MN 55359 United States P: 877-479-3680 F: 763-479-2679 E: [email protected]

We have wide selection of more than 100 thermoplastic and thermoset materials. And if you're looking for alternative material options, check out our guide to resin substitutes for ABS, PC, PP, and other commonly molded plastics.

It should also be noted that because side actions do not follow the general tool direction, undercut features require draft angles specific to the action’s movement. For more design strategies, download our Injection Molding Design Guide.

You can also read our Ultimate Guide to Injection Molding to read about injection molding technology or view our plastic injection molding services page.

Side actions are beneficial because they increase the options for what part geometries your part can have. Learn which type is best for your project.

The two side actions, shown in dark grey, intersect the mold perpendicular to the parting line. Image Credit: Shutterstock.com/Solcan Design

No one ever said that designing and manufacturing molded parts was easy. Our goal is to get you through it quickly and with quality parts. A good starting point is our Design for Moldability Toolkit.

Make the move from prototyping to on-demand manufacturing for affordable, high-quality molded parts within days. Better yet, your prototyping tool is free once you shift to an on-demand manufacturing tool. Working with a single supplier that provides free design consultation services also massively speeds up the manufacturing process, allowing for greater supply chain flexibility, more consistent parts, and making qualification a breeze.

We have two unique offers to meet your needs wherever you are in the product lifecycle. Our prototype injection molding process helps you cut product development cycles by weeks—sometimes months—and bridge to production with injection-molded parts within days. Our On-demand Manufacturing process is designed to meet your production needs, and helps you qualify parts quickly to seamlessly transition into production with scientific molding, in-process CMM inspections with GD&T, and a full suite of secondary operations to make sure that your parts show up and perform as expected.

Plastic injection molding is a manufacturing process where resin in a barrel is heated to a molten state, then shot into a mold to form a final production-grade thermoplastic part.

Injection molding is widely used for plastic part production in medical, consumer, and automotive industries. Typical parts include:

Aluminum moldsStandard lead times as fast as 7 daysTolerances of +/-0.003 in. plus resin tolerance (in./in.)Set-up fees apply to each run Consultative Design Services (CDS)Finishing OptionsNo minimum order quantities (MOQ)Quick-turn shipping in as fast as 1 day

Tough Black (Loctite Henkel 3843) and Ceramic-Filled (BASF 3280) are two new advanced photopolymer materials now available for 3D printing.

Get machined parts anodized and chromate plated with our quick-turn finishing option. Eligible materials include aluminum 6061/6082 and 7075.

Collapsible cores are mechanisms that release a circular undercut feature in a method similar to a lifter. These allow the actions to collapse inward, providing clearance for part ejection.

Injection molding is plastic manufacturing process that can produce high quality parts at scale. It's typically used for low- to high-volume production but our aluminum tooling can also make prototyping runs economical.

Liquid silicone rubber molding is a thermoset process that mixes a two-component compound together, which is then heat cured in the mold with a platinum catalyst to produce a final part.

This complete reference guide walks you through everything from quoting, design analysis, and shipment to best practices that ensure your model is optimized for molding.

Injection molding side actions are inserts (sometimes referred to as “features”) added to the mold in order to create undercut geometry. Undercut features are perpendicular to the main parting line and cannot be produced with a straight-pull mold, or in other words, by pulling apart the two halves of the mold and ejecting the part. When side actions are added to the mold, they allow material to flow around them to form the undercut feature. The side actions must then be removed manually or automatically to allow part ejection.Â

Overmolding and insert molding are two-part injection molding processes where one material is overlaid onto a second substrate part or metal insert to create a single component.

Injection Molding ExpertiseWe'll work with you throughout the course of your project to help you quickly move from prototyping to production, including finishing options and inspection reporting.

Yes, we offer a production tooling option called on-demand manufacturing. This tooling option provides several benefits: lower piece part price, multi-cavity capabilities, guaranteed tooling for the life of the project (we will cut a new tool if it wears out), and first article inspections.

Our helpful design aid demonstrates part features that are too thin or too thick, bad bosses, right and wrong ribs, and other considerations to be mindful of while designing parts for injection molding.