I am in the market for a small desktop injection molding machine to make a good number of small and simple parts that I currently buy. This machine is a plunger type which really means I need compounded resins which Color-Master has quoted some acceptable pricing so I am good to go there. I have followed APSX for some time and they have been offering their PIM unit for a while now, I looked into their website and their avoidance of wanting to talk to someone spur of the moment is a little unsettling. I have questions but mostly just need to get a feel for them. They claim they are so busy making and shipping products that they are unavailable for product information calls and restrict the calls to 15 minutes…. Unless I want to pay $100, which truthfully sounds more like a scam than anything else.

The company itself has good web presence but I can find not a single online review of their products, these units seem to be meant for the very type of people who like to talk about their toys online and again its odd I can’t find a large number of people showing them off. The only reviews I have seem are from the company itself which are good or ones that parrot the data from the company and not a single independent useful review is to be found. Not one saying they work well or not, or this part or that part breaks, just..... silence.

So my question is does anyone have one, or know of someone with one? How do they stand up? I am likely looking a making my own molds but buying their premade blanks just to save time. My smaller CNC can easily make the molds and am thinking that I should be able to get 2 or even three cavities into the mold blanks. My parts are typically small non optical lenses cup, approx .75" x .25" and less than 2g up to about 4g. I can easily adjust the cavity number as required and truthfully even with the slow 60 second advertised cycle time, it should be more than sufficient even using single cavity molds, if I can get multiples even better.

I've owned a Rabit 2/3 and might just buy a Butler 10/60 just for fun more than anything. But I am nervous of buying this thing and having the company fold and having no support like the Rabit or Butler. Anyway, I'd live to hear some news on this machine goor or bad so that I can figure out whether or not its worth the risk.

Thanks
Mike