howdy can anyone point me in the right direction on how to convert a modell i got of a box into a mold so it can be used for making it in plastic?
Send it to QuickParts, within a month you could have plastic in your hands.
http://www.quickparts.com/ is thier site
Or Protomold:
Very fast, inexpensive molds, but very expensive parts when compared to your typical production injection molded parts, althogh they are cheap when compared to many other rapid prototype parts.
If the original poster is really asking "where do I go from here?", then I suggest he make a drawing and start getting quotes from injection molders for the tools and the parts. I wouldn't suggest trying to design the molds yourself. That's what mold designers are for. Find a molder you want to work with and then work with the mold shops and mold designers that they want to work with.
Jerry Steiger
Yep, Protomold is good and expensive.....QuickParts make real tools (with water cooling and such) using standard plastic design methods. The real parts are in your hands very quickly (so far less than 4 weeks on our stuff). The tooling is used for production. They have the best customer service of any outside vendor I have ever used. QuickParts also can do sheet metal parts, machining , SLA's, FDM's, and will do assembly work (we have one plastic part that had to be made of two parts due to the pull of the mold, under cuts, etc., they bond the two parts together before shipping them to us). Tooling costs more, but parts are on average half of Protomolds cost.
QuickParts also sends you design analisis files to explain every part of the mold tooling, and if things need to change they even tell you how to do it.
#1 thing about QuickParts, They Use SolidWorks!!!! But also use everything else as well.
Protomold uses aluminum tools with no cooling, are machined with little if any EDM, so your design has to be changed to meet thier wants. The tooling can only make so many parts before it is useless. Any other service could be done, but is not as cost effective as QuickParts.
Protomold and QuickParts and your more typical molders/mold makers all have their place. Protomold if you need it really fast (days not weeks) and part cost is not important, QuickParts if you need it moderately fast and part cost is more important, and your local molder if time is not so important but part cost is. Plus there are other people in the same rapid development space, like RPDG Group and ARRK who compete more directly with QuickParts and/or a "normal" molder. It's a wonderful!
Jerry Steiger
Thanks for all the great responses guys . think i am going to check out quickparts and see if they can assist me.
Matt Lorono
Twitter: fcsuper
If memory servers me correctly I believe there is something in the help files referring to that.
Edit - Tutorials is what I meant, thank you Troy for the correction.