Injection molding prototype can refer to a custom injection molding part or the original part used to create an injection mold. The prototype can be made of various materials and is used to create exact duplicates of the original part for mass production. Machining may be necessary for detailed parts.
In the manufacturing process, the term injection molding prototype can refer to two distinct things. An injection mold prototype can be a custom injection molding part. The term can also refer to the original part used to create an injection mold from which duplicate parts can be cast. In both cases, a prototype is usually a single part or a part of a first series of developed products.
The first use of the term refers to products of the injection molding process. These parts are usually one of a kind and created for a specific purpose. Injection mold prototypes produced this way do not require mass production and production numbers are limited.
While the first use of the injection molding prototype is simple enough, the second one requires a bit of explanation. The prototype used to create injection molds has been used since the early history of injection molding. Similar to the investment casting method, injection mold prototype casting uses the original prototype to shape and form the injection mold. The machines force the molten plastic into a mold made in the exact negative of the original injection molding prototype. By creating the molds this way, an exact duplicate of the original part can be made.
This process is often accomplished with the same techniques used to create investment casting molds. The injection mold maker uses vulcanized rubber to make an exact negative mold of the injection mold prototype. The mold maker uses this negative to create injection molding molds for long production runs. The worker can also use the original mold for projects that do not require mass production.
Injection molding prototype can be made of wood, metal, ceramic or other materials. The only standard for selecting the prototype product is that the material must be able to withstand the heat of the mold manufacturing process. This wide variation in materials allows prototypes to be created at a reasonably low cost.
In some cases, the injection molded prototype of an exact part may be too detailed for proper casting of injection molded parts. Under these circumstances, details such as threads or cuts can be omitted from the injection mold and subsequently machined into individual work pieces. While machined components will not have the same strength as purely injection molded parts, this step can eliminate problem areas in the casting process.
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