Why should you be concerned about how to design for injection molding? All you want is a few prototypes 3D printed. You don’t want to deal with the time and added expense of creating a mold.
The reason is simple: if you ever want to go into production, you need to design your part with injection molding in mind.
3D printing is fine if you’re just getting a single prototype done—it’s actually the cheapest option available—but it isn’t practical for production runs of anything. It takes too long to produce a single object in a 3D printer for it to be cost effective in large quantities.
Plus, 3D printed items tend to be rough and have limited functionality, which isn’t something that will help your item sell.
If your end goal is to just have one prototyped piece of your design, stop reading here. The rest of this series won’t apply to you. But if you ever want to sell your product…then keep going. You should have an understanding of how injection molding works to properly design your part.
A part designed without injection molding in mind will require substantial revisions before it can be mass produced. And who wants to spend extra time redesigning an already perfect product?
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