Injection Molding

Injection Molding

Injection Molding Processes

Make the move from prototyping to on-demand manufacturing for affordable, high-quality molded parts within days. This is when your prototyping tool is proof of concept once you shift to an on-demand manufacturing tool. Working with a single supplier that provides free design consultation services also massively speeds up the manufacturing process, allowing for greater supply chain flexibility, more consistent parts, and making qualification a breeze.

Consistency and Quality

We combine scientific (or decoupled) molding techniques, which optimize and lock in processing parameters to ensure part consistency—with extra attention paid to critical-to-quality dimensions using our proprietary automated CMM process.

Know Your Injection Molding Raw Materials

Virtually any type of thermoforming resin can be used in the injection molding process. There are thousands of different types of materials to choose from to enable you to achieve the performance, color, and quality that you need for your design. Check out our sheet of frequently used materials.

Injection Molding Capabilities

We will start with a computer model of the part that you provide or that we create using Solidworks, then program our CNC machines using Camworks CNC software or at the machine using the CNC machine’s built-in conversational programming capabilities.

Service	Details
Lead Time	Starts at 10 business days, including 24-hour quote responses with design-for-manufacturing (DFM) feedback
Production Options	Domestic and international
Materials	Most plastics, including custom sourcing and matching; see materials list below
Machines Available	Single, multi-cavity, and family molds; 50 to 1,100+ press tonnage; side actions including hand-loaded cores
Inspection and Certification Options	Includes FAI and PPAP. ISO 9001, AS9100, ISO 13485, UL, ITAR, and ISO 7 and 8 Medical Clean Room molding.
Tool Ownership	Customer-owned with mold maintenance
Mold Cavity Tolerances	+/- 0.005″ when machining the mold and an additional +/- 0.002″ per inch when calculating for shrink rate
Part to Part Repeatability	+/- 0.004″ or less
Critical Feature Tolerances	Tighter tolerances can be requested and may increase the cost of tooling because of additional sampling and grooming. Xometry will mill to a steel-safe condition on critical features.
Available Mold Types	Steel and aluminum; Production grades range from Class 105, a prototype mold, to Class 101, an extremely high production mold. Xometry typically produces Class 104, 103, and 102 tools.

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Plastic Injection Molding Materials

Rigid And Flexible Resins
ABS \| Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
ASA \| Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate
CA \| Cellulose Acetate
COPO \| Copolyester
HDPE \| High-Density Polyethylene
LCP \| Liquid Crystal Polymer
LDPE \| Low-Density Polyethylene
PA 6 \| Polyamide 6, Nylon 6
PA 6/6 \| Polyamide 6/6, Nylon 6/6
PARA \| Polyaryl Amide
PBT \| Polybutylene Terephthalate, Valox
PBT-PET \| Polybutylene Terephthalate-Polyethylene Terephthalate
PC \| Polycarbonate

Elastomers and Synthetic Rubbers for Molding

Elastomers and Rubber-Like Materials
EPDM \| Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Rubber, Viton
MPR \| Melt Processable Rubber
POE \| Polyolefin Elastomer
PVC \| Polyvinyl Chloride (Shore A)

Plastic Injection Molding Materials

Feature	Tip
Undercuts	Reduce undercuts, which will increase the complexity and cost of the tool ejection mechanisms, by adding in pass-thru coring.
Wall Thickness	Prevent wall sink and voids by maintaining an even wall thickness. Thinner walls reduce cycle time and reduce costs.
Drafts	Ensure parts are designed with a minimum draft angle of 0.5°, or up to 5°, for faces with medium textures.
Ribs/Gussets	Ribs should be 40-60% the thickness of outer walls and should still maintain draft.
Bosses	Bosses should be designed at a depth of 30% the wall thickness and with a 30% edge groove. Attach them to side walls or ribs for structural integrity.

How Injection Molding Works

Plastic injection molding is by far the most common way to produce large volumes of finished plastic parts for every kind of commercial and industrial use. In this process, melted liquid resin is injected under high pressure into the cavity of a metal die and then rapidly cooled, forming a solid shape. A single cycle to make a finished part may take anywhere from a few seconds to minutes depending on part complexity, size, and design.

Plastic Injection Molding Tolerances

All plastics expand and contract to a certain extent under the influence of heat and moisture. Our manufacturing tolerance guide gives you general information on the shrinkage characteristics of the most common resin types to help guide your design decisions.