Want to start small business making molds,parts with desktop machines

Hello,

Frist I would like to say hi to everyone, As I just found this great site and I am very happy I did :-)

Now I am going to try and explain what exact help I need, I wanted to start my own little side business injection molding toy parts in hard ABS plastic. I have done things with rubber type molds with resan but wanted to take it to the next step were I can even supply maybe a cheap service to hobby people or inventors.

I was looking into things that can be used at home like Destop injection machines, Desktop cnc machines ect.. So what I want to do is have the ability to

Reverse engineer? Scan a part to create 3D cad data

Take my stl. files and use it to cut the mold

Create my own metal molds for injection molding

make like up to 100-2000 plastic parts

So can anyone please help me on how I can get the ball rolling? As also does anyone know if there is a service were I can get my 3D data set up to be mold ready were maybe if i had a machine to cut the molds i could input the files and away we go? or is there a software that can set up the molds so they mork for me? or anyone that can make small metal molds like this for cheap?

So I am not a expert but am trying to learn as my dream is to have a little factory were I can make a prototype,molds and the parts :-) . Thanks and take care.

William,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by william_c

Hello,

Frist I would like to say hi to everyone, As I just found this great site and I am very happy I did :-)

Now I am going to try and explain what exact help I need, I wanted to start my own little side business injection molding toy parts in hard ABS plastic. I have done things with rubber type molds with resan but wanted to take it to the next step were I can even supply maybe a cheap service to hobby people or inventors.

I was looking into things that can be used at home like Destop injection machines, Desktop cnc machines ect.. So what I want to do is have the ability to

Reverse engineer? Scan a part to create 3D cad data

Take my stl. files and use it to cut the mold

Create my own metal molds for injection molding

make like up to 100-2000 plastic parts

So can anyone please help me on how I can get the ball rolling? As also does anyone know if there is a service were I can get my 3D data set up to be mold ready were maybe if i had a machine to cut the molds i could input the files and away we go? or is there a software that can set up the molds so they mork for me? or anyone that can make small metal molds like this for cheap?

So I am not a expert but am trying to learn as my dream is to have a little factory were I can make a prototype,molds and the parts :-) . Thanks and take care.

William,

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You really didn't mention budget anywhere. Obviously cheaper is better (duh) but what are you really prepared to put into something like this? Mold work is very demanding, both in terms of machine and software. Then you mention 3D scanners and you are into a whole other world, not to mention the whole "reverse engineering".
Depending on complexity you are talking many thousands of dollars in software alone. Is this something you'd figured into the plan?
I'm not trying to discourage you, but rather to point out the tremendous investment needed to be at all competitive in such a field. I built a benchtop mill, own CAD software, and have limited access to CAM software. I cut plastic molds for casting plastic resin into (prolly similar to what you mention). It works well on the small hobby type scale. To go bigger for me would involve a significant cash outlay. I'm not even sure you can get the results you want from a "home" injection molding system, the pressures the pro ones use seem like it would be difficult/dangerous to try and replicate at home on the cheap.
Perhaps you might tell us what you have access to now in terms of tools and software, then we might be able to give some pointers towards the right direction.

I have 3D scanning and reverse engineering capabilities at my disposal. This is a pretty involved arena to climb in to, and if you want good data, you will need to invest significant time (and not just a little money) to become anything near efficient.

If you want to have me do some sample scan and reverse engineering work for you, let me know via PM.

Thanks for the reply guys, Well me and my buddy are going in together and figured we can put in like $5K each so 10K, What we want to do is this

create a 3D model then make a prototype, or if someone sends us a part reverse engineer it to create data

then we want to take the 3D model or reverse engineer data from scanned parts and create molds.

once we then have the molds then make the injection molded parts in hard ABS or some other strong plastic.

We have seen desktop a 3D scanner, desktop CNC machines, desktop plastic injection machines. So I am not sure if we are on the right track or not?

So if we can cut our own molds we feel it would save time and be cheaper? Please let me know if you guys can help as we are open to learning and listening to what is the best way to go about this :-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by william_c

Thanks for the reply guys, Well me and my buddy are going in together and figured we can put in like $5K each so 10K, What we want to do is this

create a 3D model then make a prototype, or if someone sends us a part reverse engineer it to create data

then we want to take the 3D model or reverse engineer data from scanned parts and create molds.

once we then have the molds then make the injection molded parts in hard ABS or some other strong plastic.

We have seen desktop a 3D scanner, desktop CNC machines, desktop plastic injection machines. So I am not sure if we are on the right track or not?

So if we can cut our own molds we feel it would save time and be cheaper? Please let me know if you guys can help as we are open to learning and listening to what is the best way to go about this :-)

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10K is gonna be slim to say the least. If you "have seen" these machines, perhaps you could do some research into specifics to find out it if it meets the needs of what you want to do. There are MANY benchtop milling machines, both homebrew conversions and commercial products. Not all of them will do what you want, and the only way to find out is research. Same with the other things. You need specifics, specific machines, tolerances etc.
Cutting your own molds is a good thing, but understand that just the act of MAKING the mold is an art unto itself. Reverse engineering is another story entirely, and molding is as well. At the very least I'd look around to find a local injection shop that's willing to work with you and actually make parts from your molds.
Again, 10k most likely won't get you where you want to go, especially if you have no experience actually doing this kind of thing. Mistakes are both valuable an expensive, and learning how to do stuff on your own will involve a bunch of these. Again, it's not to discourage you, but I think it's important to be realistic about stuff like this. Start small, with one portion of the project and work up from there. Trying to do a full bore mold shop at home is a BIG project. Take it one step at a time.

A worthwhile book to study may be "Cutting Costs in Short-run Plastics Injection Molding" by Morgan Industries. Includes an approach to building molds for short runs using high temp epoxy in a re-usable aluminum frame, as well as more common approaches. The epoxy method drastically reduce tooling costs for short runs. Plus lots of good information you'd need to do short runs on small manual and semi-automatic equipment. About $32 plus shipping, I think. Just got my copy. Don't know much about their machinery offerings.

http://www.morganindustriesinc.com/p...ding-guide.htm

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Originally Posted by dgrover

A worthwhile book to study may be "Cutting Costs in Short-run Plastics Injection Molding" by Morgan Industries.

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I made my first injection molds for a Morgan Press about 30 years ago. As I recall, Morgan Presses cost $10K back then. They can be made to work and it was a decent learning tool. I have since made many "real" injection molds for "real" injection molding machines and wouldn't get close to a Morgan Press unless it was given to me.

You will not get "high" quality parts from a Morgan Press but you can get adequate parts. At one time I was going to do something similar to what you are proposing. Instead, I found it was faster and cheaper to get to know several local injection molding houses and make "real" molds then have them shoot them. It turns out there are a lot of tricks to learn in injection molding. And I mean a LOT!

Since you are going to be learning about making molds as well, I suggest you don't need the added burden of learning about setting up the molding machine as well.

(as it turned out, I met a great friend in this process as he owned the molding house)

If you are intent on getting your own machine, the money you would spend on a Morgan Press would be better spent buying a small used machine that is a "real" molding machine.

I've got a some experience in most of the areas you are looking to get into and I would agree with all that has been posted in response. As in most forms of manufacturing, it all sounds so easy till after your checkbook has been out and you're trying to learn all the tricks of the trade on your own.

On a basic business level, I would do research and soul searching into why you want to start this business and most importantly, what do you hope to bring to the marketplace that isn't already there.

If you've got the budget and are looking at it as a hobby, make your own parts, parts for your buddies, play with cool toys, then great, money well spent. If on the other hand, you expect to take on the guys with better equipment and years of knowledge and beat them at their own game, well..... you'll need a lot more than $10K.

i have a cnc mill an emco maire,top shap,all soft ware,computer and machine
if you need it ,dan