Proto Mold: What is it?

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A prototype mold is a less expensive and less permanent mold used to create a tangible representation of a product during the development phase. It allows for modifications before mass production. Designers use it for complex concepts and may create it themselves or enlist prototype developers.

A prototype mold is a term most designers and manufacturers are familiar with as it relates to the process of making a concept. Usually, when industrial or product designers have a concept for a product, they will go through various stages in trying to take the concept from a simple idea to a more realistic representation of the product in the form of something tangible that represents what the product will look like. as after it was produced. While a prototype mold is used to create a representative object that fully reflects the concept the designers have in mind, it differs from a production mold in that the prototype mold is much less expensive and less permanent than the production mold.

The prototype mold is made in such a way as to allow any further modification to the product as the prototype mold is only used when the product is still in the development phase. For example, a designer who has an idea for one type of desk lamp would first use the mold to see what the finished product will actually look like. It is during this stage that the designer can add any tweaks to the product to make it conform to the product idea. Assuming the sample results from the prototype mold are unsatisfactory, the designer will make several modifications to the mold to produce something that looks more like what a designer has in mind. This is different from the production mold in that the production mold is used for mass production and is more permanent than the prototype mold in that the goal at this point is not to fine-tune the design but rather go into production complete.

One reason a designer might choose to use a prototype mold before using the production mold is due to the complexity of the concept, something that might require a lot of attention to detail to pull off the design. Therefore, the prototype design phase will consist of several incremental steps until a satisfactory result is achieved. Depending on the complexity of the design, some designers may create the mold themselves or may enlist the services of prototype developers.




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