Small part mold vendors and turnkey manufacturers are the go-to for injection molding services for one-off or short run parts. With additive manufacturing techniques, mold vendors can conquer their market with faster production.
3D printing technology can allow for superior surface finish and finishing designs. It even eliminates layer lines and stair-stepping.
3D printers paired with design software can reliably produce high resolution molds for additively manufactured molds, rivaling 5-axis machining techniques.
“Typically the hearing aid market is looking for this kind of very high resolution, including the jewelry and dental industries,” Richard Scherer, regional sales manager for EnvisionTEC told ENGINEERING.com.
“We have a proprietary material called E-Tool that can go from the machine to create the mold and then can go right into a mud-set in an injection molding process,” Scherer added. “Typically the run on those is from 50 to 60 parts until it starts deteriorating the mold. If you needed more than that, you can easily create another mold.”
EnvisionTEC printers start at $10,000, with the highest-end options exceeding $100,000, Scherer stated.
Big mold-makers and turnkey manufacturers can expand their manufacturing capabilities by including this small-run additive technology to their roster of bigger, more expensive machines.
To learn more, watch the video interview with Scherer above. Additionally, check out envisiontec.com for more details.