> 

Resources  

> 

How Do I Get a Plastic Part Made? 

How Do I Get a Plastic Part Made?

It can be challenging to determine where to start in mass producing plastic parts. The experts at HiTech Plastics & Molds are here to help walk you through the manufacturing process from design to delivery.

Manufacturing Injection Molded Parts

CNC machining, 3D printing, and injection molding are three common processes used to make a custom plastic part. CNC machining often wastes materials and is associated with higher production costs. 3D printing provides fast turnaround times but works with limited materials.

Injection molding has a low cost of production, produces highly accurate plastic parts, and can work with any thermoplastic material. Injection molding can handle most production run volumes, produce parts of varying sizes, and is highly repeatable. At HiTech Plastics & Molds, we follow four basic steps in manufacturing a plastic injection molded part that meets your every specification.

Designing Your Plastic Part & Injection Mold

The first step in the process is to design the plastic part and the corresponding mold. Before manufacturing a custom plastic injection part, you must create a design and build an injection mold. Whether your engineering team creates your design or you require design assistance, HiTech works with you and gives you the exact amount of control you need. From CD cases to military components, we have the design capacities to create your plastic parts.

Once your design is complete, we provide mold-building services. Injection molds are a vital component to creating high-quality plastic parts. We use state-of-the-art tooling and comprehensive quality inspection methods to ensure that we build a mold that meets the strictest requirements for any industry.

Choosing Your Plastic Molding Manufacturing Process

Once your plastic part design is finalized, the next step is to determine which plastic injection molding manufacturing process to use. Together with your team, we determine which thermoplastic manufacturing service will complete your plastic part manufacturing operation the best:

• Custom Injection Molding. Injection molding mass produces plastic parts by injecting molten thermoplastic into your custom mold. The plastic material cools, hardens, and forms your product. Injection molding is a good fit for large-volume orders or mid-sized plastic parts such as package/closure caps, medical products, construction parts, and much more.
• 2-Shot Injection Molding. 2-shot injection molding allows you to create a plastic injected part featuring multiple materials, colors, and other features. For instance, one component of a part using a specific material may be molded over top of another component of a different material. In one stage,your mold is filled with a thermoplastic resin before moving to the next stage where a second material is applied to create your plastic product. 2-shot injection molding is an excellent choice for manufacturing processes looking for increased design flexibility.

Producing a Prototype

The third step in the process of creating a prototype is perhaps the most important step in manufacturing your custom injection molded plastic parts. Flaws or performance complications are not always apparent in designs and CAD drawings. By creating a physical prototype, we can address these issues before moving to production. We begin manufacturing only when you are happy with the efficiency and functionality of your part.

Manufacturing Your Injection Molded Parts

Finally, after your custom mold is designed and produced, your manufacturing process selected, and your prototype perfected, we manufacture your custom plastic parts. When the parts have been ejected from the injection mold, we inspect each component before moving along to further processing or delivery.

Your Go-To Source for Quality Injection Molded Plastic Parts

HiTech Plastics & Molds is a family-owned ISO 9001:2008 certified contract manufacturer and custom molder. Since 1984, we have provided industry-leading thermoplastic injection molding services from our US-based facilities. We work with most materials, including commodity-grade or engineering-grade plastics, and adhere to the highest quality standards. We are committed to meeting each of your requirements while exceeding all your expectations.

Contact us or request a quote today to get started!

The process of how to get plastic parts made involves four basic steps: come up with a design, decide on a manufacturing process, build a prototype, and then produce the design. Choosing an experienced plastic parts manufacturer who can provide support and feedback through every step of the process increases your chance of success. At Reading Plastic, we’ve been helping clients turn their plastic part designs into finished products for over three decades.

How to Get Plastic Parts Made in Four Simple Steps

1. Come up with a design – The design process isn’t simply sketching up your idea for a part. You must also consider tolerance requirements, material selection, and end-use factors that could affect performance (such as high temperature environments or exposure to corrosive chemicals). At Reading Plastic, we offer in-depth consultations with our experienced staff to enhance your original designs. We almost always find a way to improve production without sacrificing quality. You let us know your goal – longer part life, less waste, faster delivery, etc. – and we’ll come up with a solution.
2. Choose a plastic manufacturing process – There are three main ways to manufacture a plastic part: CNC machining, injection molding, and additive processing (a.k.a., 3D-printing). While additive processing allows for a high degree of design freedom, it is notorious for poor surface quality and requires post-processing to achieve cosmetic standards and tight tolerances. 3D-printed parts are also limited in the types of plastics they can use. Injection molding has high start-up costs and long lead times, making it a poor choice if you need parts fast. Injection molding is also unable to produce complex geometries in a single part, requiring multiple parts to be produced and then fabricated together. CNC machining, on the other hand, can quickly produce complex parts with tight tolerances and superior surface finishes. There is also greater design flexibility with CNC machining as the machines can quickly be reprogrammed to produce the latest version of your part, minimizing downtime and outdated parts. And CNC machines can handle the most advanced plastics, including PEEK, Vespel®, and Ultem®.
3. Build a prototype – Prototypes are the crucial final step before production. Prototypes reveal problems that can only be discovered in real-world applications, allowing you to hone your design as well as determine the efficiency and functionality of the part. CNC machining provides you with a fully functional prototype made from the desired material that meets all tolerance and cosmetic specifications.
4. Produce the design – Once your design has been vetted and refined through prototyping, it is time to produce your part. Whether you’re starting with a small production run or a large run, Reading Plastic will deliver your parts on-time. All of our work is ISO 9001:2008 compliant, and every part goes through our rigorous quality assurance testing process before shipping, which includes 3D measurement, digital microscopic review, optical comparator review and more.

Choose Reading Plastic for Exceptional Plastic Parts

At Reading Plastic, we know how to get plastic parts made. We’ve helped clients in nearly every industry get the precision plastic parts they need, on-time and on-spec. If you have a project in mind, call us today at 610-926-3245 or email site2@readingplastic.com. We look forward to making your designs a reality!