Here is an article from All3DP magazine about the best desktop injection molding machines in the market. We like to emphasize the importance of the availability, manufacturing and service locations, multiple years of sales history, and proven machine specs for these machines.
Here is the full article: https://all3dp.com/1/best-desktop-injection-molding-machines/
When 3D printing went desktop-sized, a downright revolution in the small-scale manufacturing sector followed. Hobbyists, designers, and machine shops alike were suddenly offered a low-cost tool with which to produce prototypes and parts without lengthy lead times. But while 3D printing offers unprecedented speed and flexibility from concept to part as well as improved design complexity, most sub-$10k machines still struggle to compete with conventional manufacturing in terms of production volume, material properties, and price per part.
Desktop injection molding could now potentially fill this gap between small and large production scale by offering relatively cheap machines that find room on anyone’s desktop or workbench. APSX for example says that its small but mighty desktop injection molder can push out up to one million parts annually.
Just a few words of caution before we dive in – there are lots of small injection molding machines offered on various e-commerce platforms, however often with little to no information beyond the asking price. With buyer’s confidence in mind, the products we have included in this article all come with a solid web presence including homepages, manuals, technical documentation, and support channels.
The illustrious-sounding APSX-PIM is an industrial-grade automatic unit that offers a massive number of configurable options to optimize your production line.
Capable of both full-cycle production as well as manual operation, the APSX-PIM works entirely through electric motors, eliminating the need for additional air compressors. On the downside, this means that generated forces are not as high as pneumatic or hydraulic systems but are still impressive at 5,000 psi injection pressure and a 5-ton clamping force.
Coming in at $13,500, this heavy-duty machine is far from cheap, but it’s the best tool for 24/7 continuous parts manufacturing and offers the highest degree of parameter controls for process optimization. Molds that include ejector mechanisms are more challenging to build though, so smaller production runs might still make more sense to be done via manual part ejection. APSX has sold thousands of these little powerhouses worldwide.