Jumpin Jax
Sr Member
Any leads? Looking to expand armor experiments a bit and making a thicker piece would be great, as well as a few other projects. Anyone know the guts of this particular device?
JJ
JJ
How do you build an injection molding machine?
- Thread starter Jumpin Jax
- Start date
You can't build one, but you can buy one surplus if you have the $$$:
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Machinery-Center
That's just your capital investment. Do you have a shop to place it in? The steel or aluminum tooling for a particular mold will run you anywhere from the high $100s to several $1,000s, depending on size & complexity - amd that doesn't include the actual design of the parts being molded. And of course you need to be trained to operate one of these beasts, clean the molds, and learn the ins & outs of injection molding and mold flow analysis - or hire someone who already has industry experience. It's as much an art as it is a science...
So unless you've got $50K to burn, I'd stick to fiberglass if I were you!
- Prisoner 655321
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Machinery-Center
That's just your capital investment. Do you have a shop to place it in? The steel or aluminum tooling for a particular mold will run you anywhere from the high $100s to several $1,000s, depending on size & complexity - amd that doesn't include the actual design of the parts being molded. And of course you need to be trained to operate one of these beasts, clean the molds, and learn the ins & outs of injection molding and mold flow analysis - or hire someone who already has industry experience. It's as much an art as it is a science...
So unless you've got $50K to burn, I'd stick to fiberglass if I were you!
- Prisoner 655321
exoray
Master Member
Sure you can for small parts, results will obviously vary but it can be done on the small scale with some simple to make designs...
The most complicated and costly part is going to be having the molds machined, but again depending on what you are doing I have even seen websites of companies offering special small volume resin based injection molds that don't require machining but instead a more traditional molding of the original piece...
If a small DIY machine interest you you can hit up Ebay and search "building injection molding" or you can probably find the books at other places... Noting big and nothing fancy but maybe of interest to some...
BTW I have even see some real backyard hillbilly designs that use nothing more then big feeding syringes and thinned out dissolved in acetone ABS flakes...
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defstartrooper
Sr Member
Both correct in a way i do injection moulding as a job so i know a fair bit about the process you could make up a simple kind of injection moulding machine i mean at the end of the day it's just forcing molten plastic into a mould but believe me even simple small pieces like say a bottle cap for example aren't that simple in the end.
You need to regulate the heat,pressure,cooling time,material flow and if you know nothing of polymers and how various ones act then you are going to come across all sorts of issues.
It really is an industrial thing i wouldn't recommend it for hobby stuff.
You need to regulate the heat,pressure,cooling time,material flow and if you know nothing of polymers and how various ones act then you are going to come across all sorts of issues.
It really is an industrial thing i wouldn't recommend it for hobby stuff.
robn1
Master Member
http://www.injectionmolder.net/
http://www.hobbymolding.com/hm_forum/phpBB2/index.php?sid=da549055852cb34087a5047744721ea3
It can be a little pricey, but certainly doable on a small scale.
But if your main concern is making thicker trooper armor, you
can try backing up your vacuformed styrene parts with a layer
of fiberglass.
Rob
http://www.hobbymolding.com/hm_forum/phpBB2/index.php?sid=da549055852cb34087a5047744721ea3
It can be a little pricey, but certainly doable on a small scale.
But if your main concern is making thicker trooper armor, you
can try backing up your vacuformed styrene parts with a layer
of fiberglass.
Rob
defstartrooper
Sr Member
I've seen that technique used as a filler before on ABS parts never heard of anyone using it to actually mould pieces though.
I still don't see injection moulding in the true sense being a viable home option the set up costs would be very high even with a low end option if you have the money the best option would be to simply commision someone to make the tooling and get a company to produce the parts for you the cost of production is pretty low per unit,the real cost is in producing the tooling/moulds, a typical cycle time is around 15 seconds so you can see hundreds of units can be produced in no time at all.
Keep in mind for something like armour you are going to need either some massive tool which you will need an industrial hoist just to move if you want to produce all the parts at once and will cost several tens of thousands or a number of seperate tools for individual parts again with similar if not higher costs.
These aren't the kind of things that an amateur can knock up in a hobby shop.
It really only makes sense if you are wanting to produce stuff in very high volumes.
I still don't see injection moulding in the true sense being a viable home option the set up costs would be very high even with a low end option if you have the money the best option would be to simply commision someone to make the tooling and get a company to produce the parts for you the cost of production is pretty low per unit,the real cost is in producing the tooling/moulds, a typical cycle time is around 15 seconds so you can see hundreds of units can be produced in no time at all.
Keep in mind for something like armour you are going to need either some massive tool which you will need an industrial hoist just to move if you want to produce all the parts at once and will cost several tens of thousands or a number of seperate tools for individual parts again with similar if not higher costs.
These aren't the kind of things that an amateur can knock up in a hobby shop.
It really only makes sense if you are wanting to produce stuff in very high volumes.
Jumpin Jax
Sr Member
Sweet! Not looking into just thickening armor I have, but producing something new, as well as a few items I have in progress.
yeti667
New Member
By complete coincidence, ran across http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/inject/index.html today, could be helpful. But keep in mind the older your instruction manual, the less safe the actual process will be.
not true just because its old does not mean its not safe..
I have this book and it is very good.
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