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

The manufacturing process for molded parts is complex. Before your parts are even molded, we're there to help you with comprehensive manufacturability feedback and consultative design services, so you can avoid mold design pitfalls before the resin hits the mold. From there, our production process is documented and optimized using scientific molding so you get high-quality parts consistently and reliably with every production run.

Tolerances: Typically, Protolabs 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).

Our basic guidelines for plastic injection molding include important design considerations to help improve part moldability, enhance cosmetic appearance, and reduce overall production time. View our design guidelines page for more details.

Want to learn more about injection molding? Sign up to receive a Design Cube. This physical aid demonstrates how to properly design features commonly found on molded parts.

VDI is an international standard for mould texturing of matte surfaces. It is mainly processed by Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) when mould machining.

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

Depending on your application's requirements, you can choose from the following when requesting an injection molding quote.

Our thermoplastic injection molding is a standard process involving an aluminum mold with no heating or cooling lines running through it, which means cycle times are a bit longer. As part of the scientific molding process, our molders independently optimize and monitor fill speed, hold pressure, and hold time, and periodically inspect part quality and cosmetics. During the molding process, we use an automated inline CMM to ensure dimensional accuracy, as well as generate a detailed process capability study and FAI report.

If you select a custom finish in the Instant Quoting Engine it will require manual review. Manual quoting usually takes 1-2 business days.

While the molds themselves are similar, part quantities, lifetime maintenance, quality documentation, and pricing vary depending on which service option is chosen. The right one depends on your project needs.

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.

Resin pellets are loaded into a barrel where they will eventually be melted, compressed, and injected into the mold’s runner system. Hot resin is shot into the mold cavity through the gates and the part is molded. Ejector pins facilitate removal of the part from the mold where it falls into a loading bin. When the run is complete, parts (or the initial sample run) are boxed and shipped shortly thereafter.

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

Critical-to-quality (CTQ) dimensions you call out on models let us know what areas are most crucial to the success of your parts. Once the parts start molding, the process and samples are qualified using automated inline CMM technology, generating a detailed FAI and process capability study with no additional lead time.

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

This polymer is a blend of polyphenylene ether and polystyrene. It is highly ductile and exhibits good resistance to impact and good surface appearance. It has low moisture absorption and is dimensionally stable. Its tensile strength ranges from 50 MPa at room temperature. It is typically used for valve components, water pumps and medical devices.

It's most often used for the manufacturing plastic parts at scale due to its low material waste and low cost per part. It’s an ideal manufacturing process for industries like medical devices, consumer products, and automotive.

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.

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.

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.

It has been very enlightening to us here at HP that we are able to get parts so rapidly out of the actual materials that we're going to use in the final production.

Our plastic injection molding process produces custom prototypes and end-use production parts with lead times as fast as 1 day. We use aluminum molds that offer cost-efficient tooling and accelerated manufacturing cycles, and stock about 200 different thermoplastic resins.

Injection molding is a manufacturing process that consists of filling a metal mold cavity with liquid plastic resin, which then cools and forms a plastic part.