Is 3D Printing the End of Injection Molding?

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andrewstaflin

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Some analysts of the manufacturing industry insist that the rise of 3D printing is the demise of injection molding. It is true that there are cases where 3D printing is preferred over injections molding, but the reports about the end of injection molding are essentially made by people with a vested interest and are untrue or exaggerated.
Plastic injection molding is in no danger of fading anytime soon and will continue to hold a great deal of the market share when it comes to creating plastic parts. Despite the recent advances in 3D printing technology, more than 80% of plastic parts manufactured today are injection molded.
When asked “which technique should I use to manufacture my parts?” any serious specialist would say, “It totally depends.” It depends on variables like material type, cost, quality, and quantity of course.
Quantity
According to most specialists in the field of plastic engineering, currently 3D printing makes sense for most manufacturing orders of quantities less than 50 units. For small quantities, additive techniques have a clear edge over injection molding, because the setup cost and time is nearly zero and no special preparation of tools is necessary.
But for mass production orders, injection molding is the clear winner; especially considering the long production time necessary for 3D printing compared to injection molding.
There is an emerging trend of combining 3D printing and injection molding for limited mass productions. In this so-called hybrid method, the mold tooling inserts are 3D printed and then the parts are injection molded. In cases where production is limited, 3D printed inserts can be used as test molds for production in very limited quantities. 3D printed molds won’t endure more than just 60 to 180 pieces.
Recent studies show that 3D printed tooling inserts still have some problems with both polymer inserts as well as metal inserts.
 

motodeviant

New Member
Injection molding has nothing to worry about for the time being. You need a water-tight/air-tight part you will be pressed to do it efficiently with FDM. Yeah you can do it with FDM but you are not doing it in quantity. SLA yeah it can do it too but the resins still have a long way before they are supporting the strength and longevity of ABS and Nylon variants.
 
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