Filament for 3d printed injection Mold

[Rpmaguire 0]

Anyone have experience with 3d printing Molds for desktop injection Molding machines?

 

the machine I was looking at recommended at least 160c HDT and I’m wondering if the xstrand filament would be able to handle that?  

 

Or is there any other filament that the Ultimaker s5 could print that has a high enough HDT?

 

Thanks,

ryan

[Rpmaguire 0]

I did find that Proto-Pasta makes metal filled HTPLA.

On their site it says that when heat treated will be stable to 175c.

 

Thought Id post that in case anyone else was wondering this.

hopefully ill be able to test this in the next couple months

[geert_2 556]

I doubt if 3D-printed plastic moulds can handle the mechanical load? I have had two-component resin parts shattered and flying all across the room when subjected to a load of only 5kN (500kg). Most injection moulding machines go up to metric tons.

 

You would also need to polish the mould-surfaces quite well to be able to release the parts, removing all layer lines, and you probably still need to use a lot of release spray. But it might work for making chocolat or gummy bears though...   :-)

 

If it would be for industrial/prototyping use, what about a cheap aluminum prototyping mould, for up to 10000 copies? I think companies like Protolabs can do this?

[Rpmaguire 0]

 

Yea the more I look into this, I think the printer has to be a high-temp printer that prints PEI filament, or resin printer with high temp resin. 

It does seem to work for micro injection Molding machines though...under 100 part run per 3d printed Mold.

It was mainly the cycle time of 60 secs per part that attracted me , and without the added cnc cost.

 

Im Curious if ultimaker has plans of a printcore that could Handle PEI filament in the future?