
Choosing the Right Finish for Your Injection Molded Parts
With the wide variety of surface finishes and treatments offered by Xometry, we've got your injection molded parts covered.
Molding can be the ideal process for custom production runs of 250-25,000+ parts.
Using our vetted Partner Network, Xometry is able to produce top quality Molded parts in as little as 10 business days.
In higher volumes, custo molding with Xometry produces significantly less waste than other manufacturing processes.
Piece price is significantly lower with Molding vs other processes, particularly as production quantities increase into the thousands.
Molded parts will generally perform better than the same part CNC Machined from the same material. Careful selection of the resins allow for a wide range of corrosion resistance and chemical and solvent compatibility.
Molds are CNC machined to high precision, high tolerances and are able to produce thousands of identical parts with very small and intricate details.
We are able to deliver top quality plastic injection molded parts in as little as 10 business days. Xometry's Manufacturing Partner Network can help you design and manufacture tools, dies, and molds for rapid tooling for prototyping to advanced mold making for production runs. Full injection molding capabilities including insert molding, overmolding, unlimited undercuts, and internal/external threads are available.
Our vetted network of partners allow us to quickly convert your 3D part data into a high-quality injection mold at top speed. We offer services from design and manufacturing for tools, dies, and molds for prototyping and production runs. Plastic blow molds, aluminum and steel tooling, 2-shot and 3-shot molding are also available. And with Xometry, you own your own tools, so our partner network also offers mold maintenance services.
Our network is skilled at overmolding. With overmolding, one material, usually a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE/TPV), is molded onto a second material, which is often a rigid plastic. Think about your toothbrush handle where the single piece has both rigid and rubbery components. It’s a great way to make plastic parts perform and look better.
Xometry now also offers insert molding as part of its injection molding capabilities. For a free insert molding design review and quote, upload your CAD files here. Our expert team of injection molders will get back to you within 24 hours.
Get a quote or learn more about rigid plastics.
Get a quote or learn more about flexible plastics.
600 Grit Paper. Typical Application: Medium polish parts.
400 Grit Paper. Typical Application: Medium polish parts.
320 Grit Paper. Typical Application: Medium- Low polish parts.
600 Stone. Typical Application: Low polish parts.
400 Stone. Typical Application: Low polish parts.
320 Stone. Typical Application: Low polish parts.
Dry Blast Glass Bead. Typical Application: Satin Finish
Dry Blast #240 Oxide. Typical Application: Dull Finish
Dry Blast #24 Oxide. Typical Application: Dull Finish
No secondary polishing or grinding. Part will show tooling marks.
Although molding is best suited for medium to high volumes, the use of low cost tooling allows molded parts to be produced very rapidly and cost effectively. In almost every case, a molded part will outperform the same 3D printed or machined part from the same material. And depending on the part geometries and the material selected, low cost tooling can last for many tens of thousands of parts.
Molding is best known for producing production parts in the many thousands or even millions. With the advent of newer higher strength materials and fillers such as glass and carbon fiber, parts previously made out of metal are being replaced wit molded parts to save weight and fight corrosion.
ISO 9001, ISO 13485, UL, ITAR, ISO 7 & 8 Medical Clean Room (contact us)
Injection molding is one of the most often-used manufacturing processes for creating plastic parts. Thanks to its high-precision, repeatability, and cost efficiency at scale, injection molding is used to make a variety of products and parts from the smallest medical insert up to large automotive & aerospace parts.
The injection molding process requires an injection molding machine, raw plastic material, and a machined mold. The raw plastic material is first melted in the injection unit and is then injected into the mold — most often machined from steel or aluminum — where it cools and solidifies into the final plastic part.
The key steps in the injection molding process are:
Custom injection molding offers a number of benefits not found in other manufacturing processes. Due to the high-pressure nature of the injection molding process, it is much easier to manufacture parts with detailed features or complex geometries that would be too costly for typical CNC machining processes. The ability to use your mold over and over again for a long period of time leads to an extremely high production output rate which is more cost effective and efficient than other manufacturing processes. Lastly, different injection molding processes, such as overmolding and insert molding, allow you to create plastic parts with unique characteristics such as enhanced strength, soft-grip surfaces, or added flexibility. Also beneficial is the ability to combine multiple assembly processes into one injection molding process.
From simple parts to multi-component assemblies, Xometry combines the latest rapid injection molding processes with our Instant Quoting Engine and an experienced injection molding manufacturing team to deliver high quality and defect-free injection molded parts. Xometry utilizes a network of over 2,500 manufacturing partners, including a wide range of dedicated custom injection molding partners. Our partners provide services from tool design and mold-making to prototyping and production runs.
With Xometry you own the mold, providing you with greater flexibility and control over your manufacturing process. Get custom injection molded parts your way — not subject to someone else's production constraints.
Other benefits include:
To learn more about molding, check out our injection molding glossary.
Injection Molding is used in rapid prototyping and producing pilot and high-volume production parts in a wide range of industries. It is frequently used in industries such as medical, packaging, automotive, consumer electronics, building/construction, and robotics.
Injection molding is one of the most cost effective ways to build functional prototypes and end use parts. Learn how to design your parts for Injection Molding to ensure high quality and cost-effective results. Download your free guide today.
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