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Rapid Prototyping with Injection Molded Plastics: How to Design and Test Your Product Quickly

In today's fast-paced business world, time is of the essence, and speed to market can be the difference between success and failure. That's why many businesses turn to rapid prototyping to iterate and test designs quickly, and injection molded plastics are an excellent material choice for this process.

So, how can you use injection molded plastics in your rapid prototyping process? Let's find out.

What is Rapid Prototyping?

Rapid prototyping is a process that allows you to quickly create a physical model of your product. This model can be used to test the product's usability, functionality, and design, and iterate on it quickly to refine and improve it.

There are several technologies available for rapid prototyping, including 3D printing, laser cutting, and injection molding. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but injection molding is an excellent choice for creating functional prototypes quickly and accurately.

Why Use Injection Molded Plastics?

Injection molded plastics are a popular choice for rapid prototyping for a few reasons:

Speed: Injection molding can produce high-quality parts quickly, with most molds producing hundreds or thousands of parts per hour. This makes it an ideal choice for rapid prototyping, where time is of the essence.

Accuracy: Injection molding produces consistent, high-quality parts that are accurate and repeatable. This makes it an excellent choice for creating functional prototypes that need to perform as close to the final product as possible.

Cost-effective: While the initial setup costs for injection molding can be high, the cost per part is relatively low, making it an efficient choice for higher volumes of parts.

How to Design for Injection Molding

Designing for injection molding is different from other prototyping methods like 3D printing or laser cutting. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when designing your parts for injection molding:

Draft angles: Injection molds need draft angles to allow the parts to be ejected from the mold easily. Any vertical surface of your part should have at least a one-degree draft angle.

Wall thickness: Parts should be designed with consistent wall thicknesses to ensure they fill correctly and cool evenly. Varying wall thicknesses can lead to warping or other defects.

Undercuts: Parts that have undercuts, or spaces where the mold cannot be pulled straight out, will require an additional tool to eject the part from the mold.

Surface finish: Injection molds can produce excellent surface finishes, but the type of finish and the part's geometry will impact the final surface finish.

How to Test Your Injection Molded Prototype

Once you've designed and produced your injection molded prototype, it's time to start testing it. Here are a few tests you can perform to evaluate your prototype's performance:

Functional testing: Test the product's functionality to ensure it meets your specifications. This may include stress testing, durability testing, or other tests specific to your product.

Fit testing: If your product has multiple components, test how well they fit together. This may include testing for tightness, strength, or alignment.

Aesthetic testing: Test the product's appearance for any flaws or inconsistencies. This may include surface finish testing, color matching, or other aesthetic tests.

How to Iterate on Your Prototype

After testing your prototype, you'll likely find areas that need improvement. This is where rapid prototyping shines, as you can iterate on your design quickly and easily. Here are a few tips for iterating on your injection molded prototype:

Identify changes: Based on your testing results, identify areas where your design needs improvement. This may include changes to the part's geometry, material choice, or surface finish.

Update your design: Make the necessary changes to your design and produce a new prototype.

Re-test your prototype: Test the new prototype to verify your changes worked. Repeat the iteration process as needed.

Conclusion

Rapid prototyping with injection molded plastics is an excellent way to quickly iterate and refine your product's design. By following the tips outlined above for designing, testing, and iterating on your prototypes, you can bring your product to market faster and more efficiently than ever before. So, start prototyping today and see how injection molded plastics can help your business succeed.

rapid prototype injection molded plastic

On-demand Rapid Injection Molding

Sigma’s rapid tooling service helps you to have the low volume to large volume plastic parts done, with no compromise on the material selection.

  • No MOQ required
  • Get the rapid tooling as fast as 2 weeks
  • Free DFM
  • 24/7 engineering support

Our rapid injection molding Application

Sigma Technik Limited's rapid injection molding service injects molten plastic materials into molds using injection molding machines and molds, and cools and solidifies them over a certain period of time, ultimately forming the required plastic parts. This manufacturing process is usually suitable for producing small and medium-sized plastic parts, which can obtain high-quality and precise parts in a short period of time.

Plastic Injection Molding

Injection molding is a common manufacturing process to produce low volume to large volumes of parts typically made out of plastic. The process involves injecting molten material into a mold and letting it cool to a solid-state.

Liquid Silicone Rubber Molding

Liquid Silicone Rubber is known as LSR, which is a process used to produce parts made from silicone rubber, widely used create products such as medical devices, automotive parts, baby care products, and many others.

2K Injection molding

2K injection molding is a manufacturing process in which two different types of plastic materials are molded together in a single operation to create a single homogeneous component. This process allows for efficient and cost-effective production of high-quality parts that can perform unique functions.

Overmolding and Insert Molding

Overmolding / Insert molding combines two or more materials into a single part, one of the material is usually soft and flexible, or metal. The purpose of overmolding/insert molding is to add functionality, improve grip, provide protection, or enhance aesthetics.

Mission And Vision

Rapid injection molding materials

ABS

ABS is a type of plastic with high strength, hardness, and toughness. It has good impact resistance and wear resistance, and is suitable for manufacturing shells, components, and models.

PC

PC is a transparent, high-strength, high-temperature resistant, and excellent electrical insulation material. It is suitable for manufacturing transparent components, electronic components, and automotive components.

PP

PP is a relatively flexible material with excellent corrosion resistance and high temperature resistance. It is suitable for manufacturing containers, pipelines, baby bottles, etc.

PA

PA is a material with high strength, high rigidity, and wear resistance. It is suitable for manufacturing gears, bearings, brackets, etc.

POM

POM is a material with excellent wear resistance, toughness, and rigidity. It is suitable for manufacturing gears, bearings, pulleys, etc.

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About Us

What can we do?

Sigma Technik Limited, as a prototype production company and rapid manufacturer focusing on rapid prototyping and low volume production of plastic and metal parts, has advanced manufacturing technology, one-stop service, diversified manufacturing methods, on-demand manufacturing services and efficient manufacturing processes, which can provide customers with high-quality, efficient and customized product manufacturing services and help customers improve product quality and market competitiveness.

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Rapid Injection Molding Service Application

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Rapid Injection Molding FAQs

Burrs appear on the surface of the product, which affects its aesthetics and safety. The solution can be to adjust the parameters of the injection molding machine, such as temperature, pressure, speed, etc., or to perform post-processing, such as polishing, sandblasting, etc.

The warping deformation of the product is usually caused by unstable parameters such as temperature and pressure of the injection molding machine, or improper mold design. The solution can be to adjust parameters such as temperature and pressure, or to redesign the mold.

The occurrence of bubbles inside the product may be due to the high temperature of the injection molding machine and the high moisture content of the material. The solution can be to reduce the temperature of the injection molding machine, adjust the water content of the material, increase the pressure of the injection molding machine, etc.

The product size deviation is too large, which may be caused by material thermal expansion, mold deformation and other reasons. The solution can be to adjust parameters and optimize mold design based on material characteristics.