New and making an injection machine

[CanadianIceTech]

So me and my business partner are expanding, and are starting to need food safe material which there are no good ones in the resin we currently use. So that leads us to injection molding since there are a vast amount of food safe materials.

So currently we are looking into making an injection molding machine, since I can't find any that have the capacity we need without going to commercial ones which we dont have the money or space for yet. One of the products is a spoon rest that came out to 80g when cast in resin. We may be able to make it thinner, but thats a far cry from the 20g capacity hobby units have.


We are quite handy so making it wont be an issue, it is just getting the specs and design right.

I have found a bunch of videos and tutorials online and I feel I have a good grasp of it, but I was wondering if there are any key things I should be aware of when building it. Maybe things people have learned from making their own.


I hope this is the right place to ask this. Just trying to get as much info as I can before we start spending money. Maybe if anyone can link to some good tutorials

[iautry1973]

Not sure that by the time you get down to all the time and effort involved that a good used machine wouldn't be cheaper.

[JayDub]

Suffice it to say that a machine that can mold an 80g part is not just a larger version of a hobby/bench top machine. My advice would be to shop the part out to a custom molder. For a spoon rest, I can’t imagine the requirements are terribly tight, so maybe you could get it thermoformed?

[Suhas]

Hi CanadianIceTech,

The above two answer make a lot of sense and are correct. For what you want to do - you are looking to mold a part - so concentrate on the mold, the part, the marketing and advertising. Leave the molding (to begin with) to someone else. It is a LOT of effort to make a machine and in the end may not be worth it.

We are not trying to discourage you by any means, please do not get us wrong. Most of us are seasoned pros in this area and so the advice. BTW, you could also get a real old used machine and build it. that way, you have a basic framework.

All the best.
Suhas