Building a mold for your custom plastic product takes time and can often be costly. Finding a domestic manufacturer who offers design, mold construction, and injection molding under one roof may save you money in the long run.
We live in an information age, which can sometimes create “decision constipation.” The key to choosing the right partner is good communication.
Experience
After spending weeks, months, or even years developing a product design with multiple iterations and prototypes, manufacturers want to see their hard work turn into an actual physical part. Many choose to work with plastic injection mold-making companies that provide custom molding services.
Unlike CNC machining, which creates a physical part from a computer file, an engineer designs the injection molding process into the final product. This means it’s much more difficult to make drastic changes once the tooling is complete.
Injection molding has a high dimensional accuracy and provides consistency from batch to batch. It also allows for customizing product traits, such as color, material strength, UV protection, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Technology
Plastic injection molding produces parts with superior dimensional consistency compared to other plastics production methods. This is due to several factors, including pressure-induced deformation, machining tolerances, and non-uniform thermal expansion and contraction of mold components. A skilled product designer can minimize these aesthetic detriments by positioning them in hidden areas of the part or by making appropriate design modifications during DFM, if necessary.
Quality plastic injection molds will use the right tools and equipment to ensure each manufactured piece is exactly as the customer specified it should be. This includes a full suite of data-driven injection molding practices and resources, like programmable setups, sensors, and automation solutions.
A knowledgeable injection molder can also recommend the best thermoplastic based on the strength and function required for your plastic part. This may include options with better fatigue, heat, or chemical resistance and new resins designed to make thin-wall injection molding more feasible.
Customer Service
Plastic injection molding is a versatile process that can create various finished products. This method can also be more cost-effective than other methods. It can produce more parts faster than manufacturing processes like CNC machining and 3D printing.
Plastic is strong and lightweight, making it an ideal material to produce many products. It is used in electronics, appliances, tools, and agriculture equipment. It can be formed into a wide range of shapes and colors. It is also durable and resists corrosion, chemicals, and UV radiation.
Some common injection molding materials include polyethylene and polypropylene, which are highly impact-resistant and can withstand much moisture. Other options include ABS, acetal, and nylon. Injection molding companies can also recycle leftover plastic and re-grind it for use in future projects. This reduces waste and saves money. This is a great benefit for companies on a tight budget.
Quality
A key benefit of plastic injection molding is the quality of the resulting product. The process produces parts with extreme tolerances and tight geometries using high-pressure injection. Part designs can also incorporate features like undercuts and internal threads that would be impossible or costly with other methods.
Additionally, the versatility of plastics allows for a wide range of customizable product traits, from weight to strength to durability. For example, glass fibers can be added to thermoplastics to increase their strength and stiffness, and UV protection can be incorporated for products that will spend time in direct sunlight.
Initially, building an injection mold can be expensive due to the work required to create a precise tool. However, once made, the cost of producing each subsequent part will be significantly lower than other manufacturing methods. Injection molding can also offer high-cost efficiency throughout a family mold’s lifespan when multiple components are produced simultaneously.
