Short-Run & Mass Production Mold Making Services
One-Stop Mold Making Supplies for All Your Project Needs
Start With A Free Project Review
Need mold making supplies for mass production parts? 3ERP is known as the best mold maker in China. With mold making facilities in house and resources from our partners, we are able to provide plastic injection molds for both rigid plastics and rubbers, metal injection molds for all types of precision stainless steel parts, and pressure die casting molds for aluminum, magnesium and zinc. We offer low-cost local production molds and high-quality exported molds for all your project needs.
Whatever you need prototype molds for the short-run production, or mass production molds for millions shots, 3ERP can handle them for you smoothly.
Our Advantages of Mold Making Services
3ERP is an experienced provider of mold making services with lots to offer beyond our competitors:
1. Fast DFM reports
Although we check your design feasibility when providing a quote, we can provide a fast and thorough DFM (design for manufacturability) report before production begins. In the DFM report, we’ll identify any errors or issues that might cause a manufacturing problem down the line.
2. Wide range of molds
We offer several different types of molds, which means you can avoid splitting your projects; just send everything to us to ensure your project runs smoothly.
3. Fast Turnaround
Our large facility and machining capabilities allow us to build molds quickly, whatever the application or material, which means you can get your moldings completed faster.
4. Molding Capabilities
3ERP can ship your molds to you directly, but we can also handle injection molding and other production services to deliver you prototypes and final parts using those molds.
See why our customers love us
Every quarter, we order approximately 20 sets of plastic enclosures for our device from 3ERP. The enclosures were initially made by urethane casting, but Ronan came back to me with the idea of using an aluminum mold, which allowed me to get a few hundred moldings. We decided to move to this process. The T1 samples weren’t good enough, as we got some shrink marks, but this was quickly sorted out when we received the T2 samples.
Although we had to invest more for the mold, we now save 70% compared with urethane casting, and we can use UV-resistant ABS to keep the color stable. Overall, I am very happy with the solution.
Christian
Design Engineer
Two months ago, I was super stressed by an urgent plastic molding project. Our customer desperately wanted 100 sets at very short notice in order to run testing with real materials, even though normal production would have taken more than six months. None of our preferred moldmaking suppliers could help us, given the deadline. Luckily, one of my friends recommended 3ERP to us by chance.
3ERP has a fantastic mold design team. They managed to finish the mold design within 10 days and started to fabricate the molds right after that. I was surprised that more than 60 items, including some big parts, were completed to a decent standard within two months. Our customers eventually received the moldings to run their testing. 3ERP saved our business!
David Roberts
Design Engineer
Mold Making Processes
Mold making is a complex process that requires a high level of skill and experience. Although each case is different, a typical order for a set of molds may go something like this:
1. DFM
As soon as the customer confirms the order of molds, we will start to do an initial analysis of the parts to get an idea of the part line, gate positions, etc.
2. Mold design and mold flow analysis
The second step involves the use of predictive modeling software which allows us to see how the molten material will behave when it enters the mold, allowing for further improvements to the design.
3. CNC machining and EDM
We make the first molds using high-quality machining equipment, with the plastic, steel, aluminum, etc. chosen by the customer.
4. T1 sample
With the newly made molds, we make a T1 sample to have a clear vision of how the customer’s final molded parts will turn out.
5. Improvement if necessary
Based on our analysis of the T1 sample, we review the mold design and make any adjustments needed.
6. Commence production and shipping
We manufacture the molds in accordance with the final specifications before shipping them to the customer.
Types of Molds We are Offering
Plastic Injection Mold
Plastic injection molds are aluminum or steel molds used to make parts from a wide range of plastics, including nylons, acrylics, elastomers and reinforced materials like glass-filled polyamide. Custom plastic molds can last between 100,000 and 1,000,000 shots.
Metal Injection Mold
Metal injection molding (MIM) is a form of injection molding where a metal and binder mix is used as feedstock. A metal injection mold is usually made from tool steel to withstand the metal injection, but we can also use aluminum.
Die Casting Mold
Unlike many prototyping specialists, we can provide metal casting molds (and a low-volume casting service through our partners). These molds — typically made from hardened steel — can be used to make parts from aluminum, zinc, magnesium and other non-ferrous metals.
Investment Casting Mold
We can make low-cost investment casting molds by 3D printing a wax pattern and surrounding it with ceramic. The ceramic molds can then be used to make metal cast parts from metals like aluminum, zinc, magnesium, stainless steel and more.
Extrusion Mold
Our metal die molds can be used for aluminum extrusions of alloys like 6061 and 6063. We also make molds for plastic extrusions of materials like polystyrene, nylon, polypropylene and polythene.
Sheet Metal Mold
Our experience making sheet metal molds for stamping and bending allows us to create sheet metal prototypes.
Mold Making Projects
3ERP is a professional mold making company in China, offering a wide range of prototype molds & production molds for most types of production methods, such as plastic injection molding, metal injection molding, high pressure die casting, metal casting, profile extrusion and sheet metal. With our strong engineer and manufacture team, we have successfully produced 5K+ of molds and delivery 1 Million+ of parts to our customers.
Protect Glasses Mold
This is a 4 cavities mold we made for PU glasses injection molding. To protect people being infected during the critical time. We finish the mold within 10 days instead of 4 weeks. Find out how we speed up the mold making process.
Big Car Component Mold
One of our advantages is that we are able to make large size of molds from our CNC and EDM machines, and get the moldings done from our 1500 ton molding machines.
Reflector Mold Core
To get the best result of optical parts from injection molding process, it is important to achieve high gloss mold core from High Speed CNC Machining directly, instead of hand polishing.
Mold Making FAQ
What is mold making and when do you need it?
Molds are normally created to duplicate plastic and metal parts. After testing the prototypes and the market, it is the most cost-efficient way to launch your products at scale.
Should I choose a locally produced mold or an exported mold?
Generally speaking, making plastic or metal molds (and moldings) is cheaper in China than other countries. But shipping costs should also be considered: you will need to use air freight if you have a tight schedule; sea freight is much cheaper, but will usually take 40 days or more.
How long does a mold last?
A well-made, fully harden steel mold may be used for up to a million shots or injections, depending on the mold shape and injection material. Aluminum molds are less durable, which is good for short-run production with tight schedule.
Can molds be any shape?
Molding designs should avoid sharp corners, inconsistent wall thicknesses, and other features that restrict material flow.
When do I need full automatic mold?
Whatever you decide to use, in the end, what is the best cost-efficient way to get your parts done in the required quality is the key.
