Plastic Injection Molding

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What is Plastic Injection Molding?

Injection molding is a highly efficient manufacturing process that creates plastic parts by injecting molten resin into a precision metal mold. Once cooled, the material solidifies into durable, high-quality components with excellent consistency and surface finish.

With minimal material waste and low per-part costs at higher volumes, injection molding is the preferred solution for producing custom plastic parts across industries including medical, automotive, electronics, and consumer products. 

From rapid prototypes to mass production, our injection molding service delivers custom parts in as little as 1 day.    

Typical Applications of Plastic Injection Molding Include:                                             

• low-volume production
• bridge tooling
• pilot runs
• functional testing and prototyping

Plastic Molding Capabilities

Our basic guidelines for plastic injection molding include important design considerations to help improve part moldability, enhance cosmetic appearance, and reduce overall production time. View our design guidelines page for more details.

Tolerances: Typically, Protolabs can maintain a machining tolerance of +/- 0.003 in. (0.08mm) with an included resin tolerance that can be greater than but no less than +/- 0.002 in./in. (0.002mm/mm).

Grab a Design Cube

Want to learn more about injection molding? Sign up to receive a Design Cube. This physical aid demonstrates how to properly design features commonly found on molded parts.

Get a Design Cube

Thermoplastic Matières

Choose from over 100 engineering-grade thermoplastic and thermoset materials for both prototyping and production applications. Looking for an alternative material? Explore our resin substitution guide for ABS, Polycarbonate (PC), Polypropylene (PP), and other widely used molding materials.

Surface Finish Options

Draft angle requirements will vary by requested finish. Industry standard Mold-Tech finishes are also available.

Quality Inspections and Finishing Options for Custom Molded Parts

Every project has unique performance, appearance, and quality requirements. That's why we provide comprehensive inspection and finishing services to ensure your molded parts meet exact specifications from prototype through production.

Quality Inspections available for on-demand manufacturing order

· Design for Manufacturability (DFM) Feedback

·  Scientific Molding Process Validation

·  In-Process CMM Measurement and Machine Monitoring

·  First Article Inspection (FAI)

·  GD&T Compliance and Process Capability Reporting

Finishing Services