Injection Moulding Service
Moulded prototypes and low-volume production parts in as fast as 1 day
CERTIFICATIONS
ISO 9001: 2015 | JOSCAR
Injection Moulding Processes
Make the move from prototyping to on-demand manufacturing for affordable, high-quality moulded parts within days. Better yet, your prototyping tool is free once you shift to an on-demand manufacturing tool. Working with a single supplier that provides free design consultation services also massively speeds up the manufacturing process, allowing for greater supply chain flexibility, more consistent parts, and making qualification a breeze.
Plastic Injection Moulding
Plastic injection moulding is a manufacturing process where resin in a barrel is heated to a molten state, then shot into a mould to form a final production-grade thermoplastic part.
1-15 Working Days
Liquid Silicone Rubber Moulding
Liquid silicone rubber moulding is a thermoset process that mixes a two-component compound together, which is then heat cured in the mould with a platinum catalyst to produce a final part.
1-15 Working Days
Overmoulding & Insert Moulding
Overmoulding and insert moulding are two-part injection moulding processes where one material is overlaid onto a second substrate part or metal insert to create a single component.
1-15 Working Days
Consistency and Quality
We combine scientific (or decoupled) moulding techniques, which optimise and lock in processing parameters to ensure part consistency—with extra attention paid to critical-to-quality dimensions using our proprietary automated CMM process. Plus, with every order you'll get:
- Comprehensive manufacturing analysis
- Consultative design services
- Quality reports like FAIs and process capability reports
Design for Mouldability Toolkit
No one ever said that designing and manufacturing moulded parts was easy. Our goal is to get you through it quickly and with quality parts. A good starting point is our Design for Mouldability Toolkit.
Check Out the ToolkitInjection Mould Tooling Options and Quality Reporting
We have two unique offers to meet your needs wherever you are in the product lifecycle. Our prototype injection moulding process helps you cut product development cycles by weeks—sometimes months—and bridge to production with injection-moulded parts within days. Our On-demand Manufacturing process is designed to meet your production needs, and helps you qualify parts quickly to seamlessly transition into production with scientific moulding, in-process CMM inspections with GD&T, and a full suite of secondary operations to make sure that your parts show up and perform as expected.
| PROTOTYPING | ON-DEMAND MANUFACTURING | |
|---|---|---|
| OBJECTIVE | I need to validate my design at Protolabs speeds. I need the flexibility to economically iterate before production. | I have on-demand production needs at Protolabs speeds. |
| BEST WHEN |
|
|
| MOULD PRICE | Lower | Higher |
| PART PRICE | Higher | Lower |
| MOULD CAVITIES | Single | Single and multi-cavity |
| GUARANTEED MOULD LIFE | Limited (guaranteed for at least 2,000 shots) | Unlimited |
| MOULD STORAGE | Stored for 18 months of inactivity | Stored for 3 years of inactivity |
| MOULD OWNERSHIP | Upon request | Yes |
| QUALITY DOCUMENTATION | Basic inspection reports available upon request |
|
| SHARED FEATURES |
Aluminium moulds |
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Injection Moulding Materials
We have wide selection of more than 100 thermoplastic and thermoset materials. And if you're looking for alternative material options, check out our guide to resin substitutes for ABS, PC, PP, and other commonly moulded plastics.
Thermoplastics
- ABS
- ABS/PC
- Acetal
- Acetal Copolymer
- Acetal Homopolymer
- HDPE
- LDPE
- Nylon 6
- Nylon 66
- PBT
- PC
- PEEK
- PEI
- PMMA
- Polypropylene
- PS
Thermosets
- Standard silicone (30,50,60, and 70)
- Dow Corning Clear
- Dow Corning Optical Clear
Why Choose Protolabs for Injection Moulding?
Advantages of Injection Moulding
Injection moulding is plastic manufacturing process that can produce high quality parts at scale. It's typically used for low- to high-volume production but our aluminium tooling can also make prototyping runs economical.
- Low cost at higher volumes
- Exceptional part cosmetics and surface finish
- Repeatable
- Complex parts
- Low scrap rate
- Large selection of thermoplastic and thermoset materials
Injection Moulding Applications
Injection moulding is widely used for plastic part production in medical, consumer, and automotive industries. Typical parts include:
- Housings
- Brackets
- Gears
- Single-use medical parts
- Electrical connectors
- Syringes
- Containers
What's in an Online Injection Moulding Quote?
We do quoting a little differently. When you request an injection moulding quote, you'll not only receive accurate pricing, but also a manufacturing analysis—within just a few hours. Our online quoting platform also provides you with gate and ejector pin layouts and a price curve tool to help select the best tooling option for your project.
Get a QuoteWhy Choose Protolabs for Injection Moulding?
Rapid injection moulding works best for on-demand production, bridge tooling, pilot runs, and functional prototyping. Our affordable aluminium moulds and quick turnaround times help reduce design risks and limit overall production costs. We offer plastic injection moulding, liquid silicone rubber moulding, insert moulding and over moulding.
Which Injection Moulding Service to Choose
Injection Moulding, with it's multi cavity and family tooling options, consistent and repeatable process, tool guaranteed for life and more.
Multi Jet fusion, with it's exceptional mechanical and electrical properties, chemical resistance, suitability for medical applications and more.
Or Overmoulding & Insert Moulding, with its ability to combine two materials, increase strength and durability and more.
Reinventing Manufacturing with Injection Moulding
Speed in product development and part production are key to success. Protolabs are ideal in low volume production, bridge tooling, pilot runs or functional prototyping.
Upload a part and get a quote in as fast as a few minutes.
Injection Moulding FAQs
How much does injection moulding cost?
Because of the initial capital investment in tooling, injection moulding makes sense for higher volumes of parts. Our mould costs will vary depending on part geometry and complexity. Other factors that will impact injection moulding cost are lead times and material.
To find out how much your part will cost, upload your CAD model to get a free quote.
Do you do production moulding?
Yes, we offer a production tooling option called on-demand manufacturing. This tooling option provides several benefits: lower piece part price, multi-cavity capabilities, guaranteed tooling for the life of the project (we will cut a new tool if it wears out), and first article inspections.
What are your tolerances for moulded parts?
In most cases, we can maintain a machining tolerance of +/- 0.08mm with an included resin tolerance that can be greater than but no less than +/- 0.002mm/mm.
What is the maximum part size for injection moulding?
The largest size we can support with plastic injection moulding is 480mm x 980mm with a depth of 101mm from parting line with 3° of draft, up to 280mm of the part. With a volume of 966,837 mm³ and a projected mould area of 112903 mm²
Does it take a long time to produce injection moulding tools?
While steel moulds typically take 10-12 weeks to produce, and you may need to wait even longer if they are being shipped from across the world, the same is not true if you use Protolabs tooling. At Protolabs, it takes us between 1 to 15 days to produce moulds.
Will aluminium tools last as long as steel tools?
There are many different alloys of both steel and aluminium. At Protolabs, we use Aerospace grade aluminium (2024 T351) for our On Demand Manufacturing which is harder wearing than some steels. Make sure you check what alloys the tools are made of in detail, and then check datasheets to ensure that you know what you are buying.
Can you use aluminium tools for mass-volume production?
If you use Protolabs for On Demand Manufacturing, we give you a lifetime guarantee for the moulds so you can use them for mass-volume production. There are high-volume applications where it is better to choose our ODM offer using aerospace-grade aluminium tooling and others where it makes more sense to opt for steel moulds – speak to our application engineers for advice.
“It has been very enlightening to us here at HP that we are able to get parts so rapidly out of the actual materials that we’re going to use in the final production.“
Additional Links and Resources
Get an online quote and injection moulding design analysis today.