{"id":1445,"date":"2008-03-28T11:30:22","date_gmt":"2008-03-28T16:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=1445"},"modified":"2018-02-09T14:06:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T20:06:07","slug":"pe-protomold-prototypes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/","title":{"rendered":"Protomold – It Isn’t Just for Prototypes Anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Protomold<\/a> – Nobody’s Faster In The Short Run.\u00ae<\/p>\n

Protomold has long been the place to go for fast, affordable, injection molded prototypes. But for an increasing number of customers, Protomold is also a source of production parts in quantities of up to 25,000. Depending on the number of parts you need, Protomold can be significantly less expensive than a traditional molder using steel tooling. And regardless of quantity, you still get Protomold’s speedy turnaround for unmatched speed to market.<\/p>\n

There are several ways that Protomold can help control cost and slash production time on large orders. Multi-cavity molds, which produce up to eight copies of a part in each press cycle, increase tooling cost somewhat, but can more than offset that increase by reducing press cycle time and cost. The ideal number of parts per mold depends on various factors.<\/p>\n

Obviously, part size can be a limiting factor, but even for small parts the ideal number of cavities per mold can vary. For example, a customer needing 24,000 identical small parts might maximize savings by using an 8-cavity mold. For a customer needing fewer parts, say 2,000, the lower tooling cost of a 4-cavity mold might be the better choice. “What-if” scenarios using the “cavities” option of the ProtoQuote\u00ae (see fig. 1) or Protomold’s sales or customer representatives can help you choose the most cost-effective solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"ProtoQuote<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Fig. 1: ProtoQuote\u00ae Cavity Specification<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

There are a couple of limitations to keep in mind as you consider the use of multi-cavity molds:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Side actions:<\/strong> Because they tend to use so much of the mold’s maximum “footprint”, multi-cavity molds don’t leave room for side-action cams and must be simple straight-pull molds.<\/li>\n
  2. Hot tips:<\/strong> Due to mold complexity issues, multi-cavity molds cannot use hot-tip gates.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In addition, until the part has been thoroughly prototyped and tested, you should probably stick to single cavity molds. Once your design has been proven, you may elect to convert to a multi-cavity mold for production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    \"Fig.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \n

    Fig. 2: Multi-Cavity Mold <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    If you have questions regarding the use of multi-cavity molds for production parts, check with your Protomold sales representative, who will be happy to help you find the best and most cost effective solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Protomold – Nobody’s Faster In The Short Run.\u00ae Protomold has long been the place to go for fast, affordable, injection molded prototypes. But for an increasing number of customers, Protomold is also a source of production parts in quantities … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,21],"tags":[28,276],"ppma_author":[1237],"class_list":{"0":"post-1445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-processing","7":"category-plastics-2","8":"tag-protomold","9":"tag-processing","10":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nProtomold - It Isn't Just for Prototypes Anymore - Prospector Knowledge Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Protomold - It Isn't Just for Prototypes Anymore - Prospector Knowledge Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Protomold – Nobody’s Faster In The Short Run.\u00ae Protomold has long been the place to go for fast, affordable, injection molded prototypes. But for an increasing number of customers, Protomold is also a source of production parts in quantities … Continued\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prospector Knowledge Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-03-28T16:30:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-09T20:06:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www2.ulprospector.com\/images\/articles\/protomold\/0803_mar_design_tip\/fig1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Author\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Author\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Guest Author\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10\"},\"headline\":\"Protomold – It Isn’t Just for Prototypes Anymore\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-03-28T16:30:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-09T20:06:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":373,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.ulprospector.com\\\/images\\\/articles\\\/protomold\\\/0803_mar_design_tip\\\/fig1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Protomold\",\"Processing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Processing\",\"Plastics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Protomold - It Isn't Just for Prototypes Anymore - Prospector Knowledge Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.ulprospector.com\\\/images\\\/articles\\\/protomold\\\/0803_mar_design_tip\\\/fig1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-03-28T16:30:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-09T20:06:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.ulprospector.com\\\/images\\\/articles\\\/protomold\\\/0803_mar_design_tip\\\/fig1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.ulprospector.com\\\/images\\\/articles\\\/protomold\\\/0803_mar_design_tip\\\/fig1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/1445\\\/pe-protomold-prototypes\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Protomold – It Isn’t Just for Prototypes Anymore\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Prospector Knowledge Center\",\"description\":\"Welcome to the blog for UL Prospector, the most comprehensive raw material search engine for product developers.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10\",\"name\":\"Guest Author\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=9615105800a0270a384212262298083881\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"caption\":\"Guest Author\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/author\\\/guest-author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Protomold - It Isn't Just for Prototypes Anymore - Prospector Knowledge Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Protomold - It Isn't Just for Prototypes Anymore - Prospector Knowledge Center","og_description":"By Protomold – Nobody’s Faster In The Short Run.\u00ae Protomold has long been the place to go for fast, affordable, injection molded prototypes. But for an increasing number of customers, Protomold is also a source of production parts in quantities … Continued","og_url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/","og_site_name":"Prospector Knowledge Center","article_published_time":"2008-03-28T16:30:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-02-09T20:06:07+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www2.ulprospector.com\/images\/articles\/protomold\/0803_mar_design_tip\/fig1.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Guest Author","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Author","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/"},"author":{"name":"Guest Author","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10"},"headline":"Protomold – It Isn’t Just for Prototypes Anymore","datePublished":"2008-03-28T16:30:22+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-09T20:06:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/"},"wordCount":373,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www2.ulprospector.com\/images\/articles\/protomold\/0803_mar_design_tip\/fig1.jpg","keywords":["Protomold","Processing"],"articleSection":["Processing","Plastics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/","url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/","name":"Protomold - It Isn't Just for Prototypes Anymore - Prospector Knowledge Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www2.ulprospector.com\/images\/articles\/protomold\/0803_mar_design_tip\/fig1.jpg","datePublished":"2008-03-28T16:30:22+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-09T20:06:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www2.ulprospector.com\/images\/articles\/protomold\/0803_mar_design_tip\/fig1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www2.ulprospector.com\/images\/articles\/protomold\/0803_mar_design_tip\/fig1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/1445\/pe-protomold-prototypes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Protomold – It Isn’t Just for Prototypes Anymore"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/","name":"Prospector Knowledge Center","description":"Welcome to the blog for UL Prospector, the most comprehensive raw material search engine for product developers.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10","name":"Guest Author","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=9615105800a0270a384212262298083881","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Guest Author"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com"],"url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/author\/guest-author\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":1237,"user_id":20,"is_guest":0,"slug":"guest-author","display_name":"Guest Author","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1445"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}