this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2023
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3D Printing

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Quality of 3D printing versus injection molding (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Are consumer level 3D printers able to print plastic objects of similar quality to ones produced using injection molding? Or is 3D printing useful mostly for the prototyping stage before a design is finalized and a steel mold is produced for injection molding?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

They can be, it largely depends on how well calibrated the printer and the print settings are. 3D printing definitely is vastly superior for low quantity production or prototyping (due to the costs of getting molds) but it generally speaking isn't the best for mass manufacturing.