The desktop manufacturing revolution is only just beginning, with startups like Mayku and Allforge bringing new fabrication tech to your workshop. One Zortrax user named Luca Toson made their own desktop version of injection molding technology, only it isn’t exactly functional. No Toson’s prototype for a complete injection molding machine is only a model, but it’s a highly detailed one made out of 300 3D printed parts.
With injection molding, plastic in the form of a fine powder is heated until melted sufficiently to the point that it can be injection in a mold, where it is cooled and hardened, before revealing the 3D object. Toson chose this process, highly utilized by the mainstream manufacturing industry, to highlight the power of 3D printing for creating highly detailed models. After modeling a CAD model of the system, relying on NURBS for freeforms, the designer was left with 300 different parts, which he then 3D printed on his Zortrax.
The resulting 1:36 scale model measures 370mm x 166mm x 155mm in size and was 3D printed in 25 batches on his M200 using Z-ULTRAT, Z-ABS and Z-GLASS materials. The model was assembled with steel pins and screws and aluminum pipes were then added for realism. Extremely accurate, some of the model’s parts can even be moved manually. Scale this bad baby up and we might have the world’s first 3D printed injection molding machine!
