Low-Volume Rapid Injection Molding with 3D Printed Molds

Accelerate product development, reduce costs and lead times, and bring better products to market by incorporating 3D printing and short-run injection molding into your development process.

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An Efficient and Affordable Means for Bridge Tooling

Use 3D printed injection molds with both benchtop and industrial machines to effiecently and affordably produce hundreds to thousands of functional prototypes, parts for pilot production, or end-use parts.

3d printing - injection molded prototypes

Case Study

Novus Applications Fabricates Injection Molded Prototypes With Rigid 10K Molds

Learn how Novus Applications used 3D printed molds on their industrial molding machines to quickly and affordably produce intricate bottle caps.

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Blog Post

Holimaker Produces 100s of Prototype and Pre-Production Parts With 3D Printed Injection Molds

Learn why Holimaker uses 3D printed molds in 80-90% of their projects today.

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3d printing for injection molds to produce end-use parts

Blog Post

How Braskem Leveraged 3D Printing to Fabricate Injection Molds for End-Use Parts

Learn how Braskem went from design to production of 8,000 mask straps in under a week.

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For Both Desktop and Industrial Molding Machines

Injection molds fabricated with Formlabs 3D printers have been tested with both desktop and industrial injection molding machines using a wide range of pressures, temperatures, and materials.

See the molding conditions customers have used

3d printing ecosystem - design, printing, post-processing

A Complete Desktop Ecosystem

With a Formlabs 3D printer and desktop molding machine, it’s easy to get started 3D print injection molds in-house. Quickly test, validate, and itterate prototypes, produce pre-production parts in your final production material, and even manufacture end-use parts in low volumes with limited equipment and training.

injection molding and 3d printing ecosystem infographic

Production on the Factory Floor

Grow your business and take on more small volume jobs by leveraging 3D printing to produce injection molds. Whether you outsource low-volume tooling or machine inhouse, 3D printing can be used on the factory floor to affordable and efficiently fabricate injection molds while allocating skilled resources elsewhere.

Read Multiplus’ story

Integrate into Any Injection Molding Workflow

Formlabs complete, easy-to-use ecosystem can seamlessly be integrated into any injection molding workflow. Save time and money on low-volume injection molding projects by leveraging the benefits of 3D printed molds to quickly and affordably produce hundreds to thousands of parts in traditional thermoplastics.

Read the Quick Start Guide

Step 1

Mold Design

Follow common design for manufacturing principles when designing a 3D printed injection mold.

Step 2

Mold 3D Printing

The Form 3 uses high-performance materials such as Rigid 10K Resin to produce strong, smooth, detailed molds.

Step 3

Mold Assembly

Assembling the 3D printed mold in a Master Unit Die increases longevity.

Step 4

Mold Clamping

3D printed molds can be installed in both desktop and industrial injection molding machines.

Step 5

Injection

Molds fabricated with Formlabs 3D printers have been tested using a wide range of process parameters.

Step 6

Cooling

Compressed air can accelerate cooling time, which is typically longer with plastic molds.

Step 7

Demolding

Ejector pins can be added to automate demolding.

Tools to Get Started 3D Printing Injection Molds

Formlabs ecosystem of accesible 3D printers and high performance materials can be used to fabricate strong, smooth, highly detailed injection molds capable of producing hundreds to thousands of parts under demanding molding conditions.

Injection Molding Tools

Form 3

High Performance SLA 3D Printer

The Form 3 produces molds with high-quality surface finish and fine features, ensuring that the injected parts come out true to design with minimal post processing.

Use the Form 3 at various points of the product development process for a faster ROI. From 3D printing prototype parts to producing molds for short run production of those same parts, the Formlabs ecosystem is easy to integrate into any product development process.