The part designed for molding, an SLA-printed prototype mold, and a short run of injection-molded parts in your production material. Find the gate, draft, shrink and ejection problems while they are still a CAD edit, not a tooling change order.
A 3D-printed part tells you about shape and fit. It does not tell you how the part will fill, shrink, warp or eject when it is molded, and it is not in the material you will ship. A printed prototype mold answers those questions for a fraction of the cost of steel, in days instead of weeks.
Samples in the resin you plan to sell: the actual stiffness, surface, colour and feel. Good enough to test, show a customer, or put in an investor's hand.
Sink, short shots, weld lines, undercuts you missed, a gate in the wrong place. Each one found here is a CAD change instead of a tool rework.
When you go to production, the molder gets a part that has already been molded once, with the notes to prove it. Fewer surprises, fewer revisions on their clock.
| Good fit | Talk first | Not this service |
|---|---|---|
| Small to medium parts with simple to moderate geometry | Deep ribs, thin walls, or fine textures | Production volumes in the thousands: that is a machined tool, which I will design for and hand off |
| Short runs of samples for testing, demos and customer sign-off | Undercuts that need side actions | Food-contact, medical or safety-critical parts |
| Common resins: PP, PE, ABS, TPE, and similar | High-temperature or glass-filled resins, which shorten mold life | Very large parts |
| Proving the design before steel tooling | Tight tolerances across the parting line |
Printed molds are prototype tooling. They give short runs, typically tens of parts, depending on the resin and the geometry; each quote states the expected shots for your part.
Yes. That is the usual starting point. It gets reviewed for moldability and reworked where it needs to be: draft, wall thickness, radii, and a sensible parting line. You approve the changes before mold work starts.
Tens of parts is typical for a printed mold, more for soft resins and simple shapes, fewer for hot or abrasive resins. Your quote will state an expected count for your part and resin.
Yes. The mold can be delivered as inserts sized for a standard frame, with the process notes from the first shots.
You take the proven part design, the mold notes and the drawings to a molder for a machined tool. I can review their quote and DFM feedback with you.
Quoted per part: design work at the design fee plus revisions, then the mold and a sample run as a fixed price. Small parts with simple geometry are the least expensive; the quote is written, itemised, and yours to compare.
Send the CAD, a sketch or a photo and a sentence about the resin and the quantity. You get a reply with questions or a quote within two business days.