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Plastic Injection Moulding pieces with Undercuts

Posted by Matt9 
Plastic Injection Moulding pieces with Undercuts
November 25, 2016 04:11AM
Hello All,
I am a newcomer to Plastic Injection Molding and would really appreciate some advice.
I have a prototype object that will be made from a type of polypropylene. I only need a maximum of 10 units initially to ensure that the product is satisfactory. The issue is that there are many undercuts in the design. Imagine if you will, a variety of different shaped trees growing randomly in a field. This will be the design. The trees and the field will need to be formed as a single object to maintain strength.
I printed a similar design which was aesthetically OK but due to material limitations was not suitable.
Maybe Plastic Injection Molding is not the approach I should be taking?
Thank you in advance
Attachments:
open | download - Trees example.PNG (147.2 KB)
Re: Plastic Injection Moulding pieces with Undercuts
November 25, 2016 07:03AM
No,injection molding is not the way to go for you.
What is the total number of units you will need? Only when you say more than 10.000 units will inj molding be relevant.

One way to do it is to use SLS (laser sintering), for instance Shapeways does it with the Strong and Flexible materials.

Lykle
Re: Plastic Injection Moulding pieces with Undercuts
November 26, 2016 02:53AM
Thanks for your reply Lykle.
Will SLS be capable of this when the trees are very close together? Some will be almost touching.
Re: Plastic Injection Moulding pieces with Undercuts
November 26, 2016 06:01AM
Yes there is no issue there. They can be touching, overlapping or not, does not matter.

Check out Shapeways.com
Re: Plastic Injection Moulding pieces with Undercuts
November 26, 2016 06:16AM
Why not cast them? Make the initial master as good as you can with whatever tech you can get in price range and then make a silicone mould out of it.
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