I was wondering if anyone here has had experience with taking a prototype they had printed at Shapeways (or another 3D printing company) and then using the same .stl file to have an aluminum or steel mold cut in order to mass produce the part by injection molding. Is it possible, or do you have to convert your model into another format? Or re-create the model in a dedicated CAD software? Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!
As long as the geometries are not "impossible", then the same file (STL or whatever) that you print from at Shapeways could be used by a CNC machine to cut the injection mold.
Thanks, that's good to know! Glad I don't necessarily have to learn a new software to recreate the model in nurbs or what have you.
You may want to contact these people, who have experience with injection molded parts for the Prusa Mendel: interchangeable with the STL files, and obviously featured somewhere in their tooling. indesign.yy@gmail.com RPTech Works Ltd. The Venture Centre University of Warwick Science Park, Sir William Lyons Road Coventry, West Midlands CV4 7EZ United Kingdom
But you should talk to the people who are going to cut the moulds for you, they will have experience in works well.
Whoa Whoa, STL files are definitely not suitable for machining or IM. While there are methods that can used to convert, any triangular mesh will in general not be able to be used for either process. You'll require a STEP, IGES or ParaSolid of the part to ensure he correct machining. Also be aware of the rules in place for IM. They are very restrictive in comparison to 3DP, and even the smallest basic feature which is trivial for a 3D Printer may add significant amounts to the Tooling Cost.
jzichek:: granted the given and obvious problems in direct comparison; all suggestions point first to a chat with the crowd at University of Warwick as an initial start.
I knew it was too good to be true! Sounds like I will have to get comfortable with NURBS modeling in Rhino or the equivalent if I want to prep parts for possible injection modeling; right now I work mostly with sudivision surfaces and then convert those to .stl format.