I have gotten this question a few times and I will explain it to you clearly. 3D printing and injection molding are not in competition. They are two important manufacturing processes that serve different purposes in the same industry. When you consider the unique problems that each of them solve, you will realize that they are not in competition. 3D printing and injection molding complement each other.
3D printing and injection molding are similar because they are both processes used for manufacturing plastics products, but they differ in their applications and use cases. In this article I explain the roles that each play, their similarities and differences.
Injection Molding Process
To produce plastic products we have always used injection molding. In the process of injection molding, raw plastics is heated until it melts, then this molten plastic is pushed into the mold and as it cools it takes the shape of the mold. The injection molding process very fast and efficient, but it requires a mold. These molds are made of steel or aluminum, and they are made by CNC milling at a machine shop. It is expensive to make these molds, but once you make the molds, you can use it to make thousands of plastic products.
Pros:
- Injection molding can produce thousands of plastic with same old.
- Injection molding is rapid, it take only a few seconds to make a part.
- Injection molding is more cost effective per product because you can produce many of them per day.
Cons:
- Each mold can only produce that one product for which it is made.
- If you need a new product or a new design, you will have to make a mold for it.
- Molds for injection molding are expensive, they can cost everywhere between
- Injection molding machines are expensive.
Best Use Cases:
- Injection molding is best suited for when we need to make thousands of copies of one product.
- It is best suited for products that need to look good without any post production finishing.
3D Printing Process
To create plastic products with 3D printing, you don’t need a mold. 3D printing uses a spool of plastic filament to create the product by melting the filament, extruding it through a nozzle and dropping it layer by layer to form the product. 3d printing is not as fast as injection molding, in fact, a product which takes 3 hours to create in a 3D printer can be created in 30 seconds by the injection molding machine. The beauty of the 3d printer is that you are not limited to one product shape or design because you don’t need a mold. You can start printing any design immediately without waiting for a mold, and without spending thousands of dollars on a mold job.
Pros:
- 3D printing helps you to go from idea to product in minutes.
- You don’t need to spend time and money on a mold.
- You can create any shape of product you want
- 3D printing machines are affordable.
Cons:
- It can take minutes, hours or even days to print one product.
- 3D printed parts do not have a great surface finish like injection molded parts.
Best Use Cases:
- 3D printing is best used for making products when we need only a few them.
- It is best suited for prototyping.
- It is best suited for products with complicated shapes, that way you don’t spend money on complex molds.
My Final Answer
To answer your question plainly, 3D printing will not replace injection molding in the foreseeable future. 3D printing will always be relevant for small scale production, while injection molding will always be the best for large scale mass production. These two manufacturing processes complement each other. After a product has been prototyped using 3D printing, it will be mass produced using Injection molding.
Thanks for reading.
