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Prototyping allows entrepreneurs to test their designs before bringing their product idea to life. It is a crucial stage for product development that helps determine the final product’s success before proceeding to the production process. Plastic prototyping allows companies to test out designs and identify potential problems before final tooling.
As a result, business owners prevent costly mistakes down the road, such as producing high volume but ineffective products. The type of plastic prototyping service you get also determines the quality of your final product. For this reason, you want to ensure that you work with a skilled and experienced manufacturing company.
There are different manufacturing technologies that experts use to produce plastic prototypes. Understanding each strategy helps you develop a better understanding of the process. The following information explains the various techniques manufacturers use to create plastic prototypes.
Creating a plastic prototype with injection molding
Injection is a manufacturing process that facilitates large volume production of identical items, but it can also be an effective and cost-effective way to develop plastic prototypes. As the name suggests, the process involves injecting molten materials into a mold cavity. The following is a detailed elaboration of how you can develop a plastic prototype with injection molding.
The first step of this process is creating a mold, which can be made from different materials including aluminum, steel, or metal. Since the desired product is a plastic prototype, a manufacturer subjects plastic material in a heater, where a helical-shaped screw mixes the molten.
Next, the molten plastic material is then fed into a mold cavity, where it cools and hardens, taking the shape of the mold. Cooling time varies depending on the materials used to make the mold. For example, steel is a poor conductor of heat and takes longer to melt. It also takes longer to cool and harden than other materials such as plastic.
Injection molding produced the most complex design and is, therefore, suitable for products such as automotive components and medical devices.
When should I use injection molding?
Injection molding is your go-to technique whenever you need to produce products in high volume. The process is generally fast, but factors such as the size and complexity of the mold determine the cycle time. Injection molding also produces complex designs uniformly and can therefore be an ideal manufacturing procedure if you need virtually identical parts.
How to create a plastic prototype with 3D printing
3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is an overall name for different manufacturing processes including stereolithography, selective Laser Sintering and Fused Deposition Modeling. While all these techniques can produce a prototype, manufacturers commonly use Fused Deposition Modelling. The information below explains what the process involves.
Fused deposition modeling 3D printing
Fused deposition modeling 3D printing is a manufacturing process where materials are fused in a specific way to form an object. During FDM 3D printing, plastic is subjected to high temperatures into its molten state. The operator deposits the resulting liquid into a print bed, adding one layer after the other.
These layers become one, taking the shape of the print and forming the final part or product. FDM 3D printing is a cheaper and more effective technique that manufacturers use to develop prototypes.
Different materials such as thermoplastics, metals, and wood-infused thermoplastic can be used in this process. The type of material you use for your prototype depends on the purpose of the product. For example, polylactic acid is a suitable material for products that serve more aesthetics than a functional purpose.
If you need a colorful yet functional prototype, a manufacturer can fuse polylactic acid with other materials such as carbon fiber to enhance functionality. While 3D printing is a great way to produce visual prototypes, it should not serve as a replacement for injection molding. The following is an elaboration of the injection molding process.
When should I use 3D prototyping?
3D prototyping may be a suitable manufacturing technique when you need to produce a small volume of products in a short time. It is cost-effective for designers since they can quickly iterate their plastic prototype. For your significant production needs, 3D prototyping may not be as effective as injection molding would be.
Factors such as the type of manufacturing technology influence the success of your product. When finding the proper process, you may need to consider the material you wish to use. You can also contact a manufacturing company to lessen the load.
