Another budget friendly molding method in addition to casting with an acrylic might be compression molding. This would be a radically cheaper tool. Typically they only have heat on the female side of the tool and require no hydraulics or electroncis to operate. I have folks making small compression tools for $1500 and they can be run by a basic molder in a small press.
Knurled wrote: Why not 3D print the molds? If the molds are the expensive part, and you have a 3D model of the part anyway, could that be translated into a workable mold? Note: I'm genuinely asking, why not. This isn't my field of expertise, I'm curious as to what roadblocks/stumbling blocks there would be.
The boss won't let me get too close to them in case I form a deep attachment, but at SEMA the 3D printer guys were claiming they could print molds on a $50k machine. Which makes the price of the mold considerably lower than that.
I'm locking this thread due to it being a canoe magnet. If anyone here wants to continue the conversation, send me or another mod a PM or ask in the Report Canoes (Spammers) Here thread.
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