Protomold:
It Isn't Just for Prototypes Anymore
Protomold has long been the place to go for fast, affordable, injection molded prototypes. But for an increasing number of customers, Protomold is also a source of production parts in quantities of up to 25,000. Depending on the number of parts you need, Protomold can be significantly less expensive than a traditional molder using steel tooling. And regardless of quantity, you still get Protomold's speedy turnaround for unmatched speed to market.
There are several ways that Protomold can help control cost and slash production time on large orders. Multi-cavity molds, which produce up to eight copies of a part in each press cycle, increase tooling cost somewhat, but can more than offset that increase by reducing press cycle time and cost. The ideal number of parts per mold depends on various factors.
Obviously, part size can be a limiting factor, but even for small parts the ideal number of cavities per mold can vary. For example, a customer needing 24,000 identical small parts might maximize savings by using an 8-cavity mold. For a customer needing fewer parts, say 2,000, the lower tooling cost of a 4-cavity mold might be the better choice. "What-if" scenarios using the "cavities" option of the ProtoQuote® (see fig. 1) or Protomold's sales or customer representatives can help you choose the most cost-effective solution.
Fig. 1: ProtoQuote® Cavity Specification
There are a couple of limitations to keep in mind as you consider the use of multi-cavity molds:
- Side actions: Because they tend to use so much of the mold's maximum "footprint", multi-cavity molds don't leave room for side-action cams and must be simple straight-pull molds.
- Hot tips: Due to mold complexity issues, multi-cavity molds cannot use hot-tip gates.
In addition, until the part has been thoroughly prototyped and tested, you should probably stick to single cavity molds. Once your design has been proven, you may elect to convert to a multi-cavity mold for production.
Fig. 2: Multi-Cavity Mold
If you have questions regarding the use of multi-cavity molds for production parts, check with your Protomold sales representative, who will be happy to help you find the best and most cost effective solution.
