In recent years, 3D printing has become a very hot industry today. Prototyping quickly and easily makes 3D printing more and more widely used.So when engineers design and making a new electronic product and want to make a plastic enclosure for their PCB,3D printing maybe their first choice.but will 3D printing instead of the traditional injection molding for plastic enclosure?what's the difference between them?
1. 3D printing
3D printing is a 3D printing process, which means that the entire manufacturing process is completed by adding materials layer by layer. You can use a 3D printer to produce parts without creating a mold, you only need a 3D printing model file, and there are many different 3D printing technologies and materials on the market to choose from.
The use of 3D printing has many advantages, making it a true complement to traditional manufacturing techniques. First of all, 3D printing is very suitable for product iteration. For a long time, 3D printing has been considered a rapid prototyping technology. This is no longer the case, because it has also become a reliable manufacturing technology. However, quick and easy prototyping is still one of the best advantages provided by this manufacturing technology. When using 3D printing, you can print the project for testing, use the 3D printing modeling software to make all the modifications, and then print again to confirm the changes. The flexibility of this process will help you save time and money, but it can also help you improve your product design.
Using 3D printing also helps avoid material waste. Compared with CNC traditional processing methods, 3D printing can only use the amount of materials required for the entire project, thereby reducing the generation of waste and reducing production costs in disguise. With 3D printing, you can also improve supply chain management to avoid the storage costs of additional inventory.
2. Injection molding
Injection molding is a traditional industrial manufacturing technology. Through this process, you can create the contour of the part by injecting material into the cavity. By injecting molten material into the mold, this manufacturing technique can quickly shape your product, and then the material will cool down and reach the final solid shape.
Injection molding has great advantages, can be produced in large quantities, and has high precision and perfect repeatability. When using plastic injection molding, you can choose from a variety of materials. There can be thousands of variations for each material through additives, each of which leads to different characteristics. Material weight, cost, flexibility, just out of plasticity and possibilities, seem to be endless.
We have already said that injection molding can not only produce mass production, but also create very detailed details. Due to the repeatability of the process, it is really easy to add details to injection molded parts. Injection molding makes it very easy to manufacture stronger parts.
In short, these two production methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. If you are developing a new product and do a small number of sample tests, you can choose 3D printing. If it is mass production, it is definitely more time-saving and cost-effective to choose injection molding.
