How We Made A TINY Injection Molding Machine
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
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DIY desktop injection molding is finally a reality! We built an extremely small and easy-to-use desktop size plastic injection machine, and we’re calling it (drum roll please)… INJEKTO! We tested it using molds created on our DIY CNC machine and it worked perfectly.
Although this initial prototype gives us proof of concept, there are still some flaws that must be addressed to create a perfect injection molding machine. We are working on developing an enhanced 2nd version of this DIY desktop injection molding machine and can’t wait to share it with all of you!
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There are enough details in this video for DIY folks to reproduce, thanks for that.
Thanks for the donation Ali and so glad you enjoyed this video. If you end up reproducing the machine, be sure to reach out and let us know the results. We will be making the Injekto 2.0 kit available in our next video (coming out next month) so hopefully you will have access to all the parts you need to reproduce our machine 😃. Cheers, Dave and Alan
I knew a guy years ago who had a virtual monopoly on the industry of manufacturing small plastic shims for cabinet hinges. They did all the injection molding in his father's home shop. The trick was that the mold itself was preheated to somewhere between room temp and the transition temperature of the plastic. This meant the plastic cooled less as it was being injected and they could make more parts at a time.
Can i just ask how the plastic cooling less can enable you to make more parts at a time?
@@FraMurgia I imagine each mold would contain multiple parts. But that means a longer and more complex path for the plastic, so to get the plastic to flow all the way through the mold before hardening, it would need to be preheated.
@@TerrisLeonis Thank you!
Modern machines actually have cooling lines in the molds. It helps to solidify faster, you can hardly eject a hot part. Ejection pins will ruin the model if its still too hot.
@@mick0matic yes, I had forgotten that part. Basically, the machine temperature cycled quickly
I ran injection molds for nearly 30 years of my work career. Our Molds ran from 4 ton to 120 ton presses. I thought for awhile about buying a 12 ton press on the used market and starting a small family mold shop for custom work or maybe making sporks or small items.
Hi Albert did you stand up the family shop? I have a rubberized part I am trying to figure out how to make. Let me know if your interested in mfg.
A friend to the family was a tool maker, and that included making molds for injection molding. My father helped him a summer when he got to much work. He kept making the molds while my father got the grunt work of polishing the molds which was necessary to make them release easily. He got a completely new appreciation for the amount of work it took to make a good injection mold.
Yes tooling for injection molding can sometimes even cost more than the machine itself. The molds we use in the place I work now typically cost about 35 to 60 thousand USD. The first plant I worked at had the most expensive tooling I've set at 450 thousand for a mold that made two 5 gal buckets every 40 seconds. You can find those buckets on the shelves at Walmart.
Nice Video. As an experienced injection molding machine engineer, the normal position for the thermocouple is between the heater bands. The position of the heater bands is also important. The heaters should be close to the nozzle. Because the heat will be highest at nozzle end of the barrel and radiate to the material feeding point. Which gives the normal temperature profile found on conventional plastic injection molding machines. Hope this helps guys.
Thanks Lindsay 😊. This really helps. It’s good to hear feedback from a professional.
Absolutely incredible. I'm not sure if you've ever watched the MakerBot 3d printing story. But you guys have now tapped into the category with desktop injection molding. Making it the most simple design I've seen yet. I hope the precious plastic team is able to get ahold of this design as well. You guys are awesome!
Thank you, I appreciate that comparison. Cheers.
@@ActionBOX no problem. I absolutely love your open platform and work to help the community better than them. Keep up the good work absolutely love this! Really hope to build one for myself!!
Subscribed. Injection molding technology is one of the most expensive and prohibitive for an average joe. Even if the part cost is really cheap - no commercial company will honor an order smaller than a few thousand pieces, and the cost of the actual mold is immense. Thanks. This would close a GAP in he dyi community - since most of us have small batches of products and either we are forced to use "off the shelf" cases and design our pcb's around those, either use not so "professional" looking 3d printed cases (wich / gram are MORE expensive than molded ones). Really thanks. The ideea floats around on the web for years now - but i've seen few or none actuqlly viable working projects.
Thank you 😃. We are committed to making this a reality. Looking forward to your comment in the injekto 2.0 video 😊. Cheers, Dave
It doesn't get very expensive in the long run. The very manner, construction and function of this limb amputation machine saves the user from all too many expenses in the future (and from a too long life too...).
I suggest getting ideas from their other machine ( Homemade Plastic Injection Machine | DIY, th-cam.com/video/l4gGWufoIYI/w-d-xo.html), add proper safety enclosures, an appropriate user interface for this kind of machinery and required devices like safety relays and emergency shut down. Just to keep the prosecutor away ... ;)
Just some cents to ""off the shelf". You mean those enclosures who come in a million different sizes, shapes and configurations, rev3rse[2]? Those which are produced by experts? I mean, you can ignore that material testing equipment and quality testing exists (like all of you guys do ... like that is an option!!!), which the machinery costs usually are 10 times[1] that of the production machines, not speaking of the expertise needed ... and have that reflected in your products: Unreliable or even with a risk of injury and with inconsistent properties. That kind of attributes does not necessarily increase trust in small manufacturers and DIY products.
Occupational safety standards and quality standards, material and product testing should not be seen as enemies. On the contrary, they are important achievements of modernity, without which we would be worse off!
[1] This is the place where people look in disbelief. But that is due to the lack of a clue with industry practices and requirements and that one prefers ignorance to responsibility. This is a widespread disease in maker circles and another reason for the proverbial amateurish poor quality.
[2] And which also can be ordered as self-designed and produced as prototypes or in small series ... and we think we can do this at home with the same quality and reject? No!:)
Rubbish. We are a job shop. We've done runs of 200 parts. Setup costs will really hurt for runs like that, though.
This channel is severely underrated. Great design work to improve the accessibility of industrial manufacturing processes that have traditionally been out of reach for so many, or even just not feasible for small scale prototyping or production. Subscribed and sharing with anyone who may have even a passing interest. Keep up the great work.
Thank you so much for sharing the video! It really helps bring awareness to the channel. Comments like yours make it all worth our efforts 😁 Do you have any plans to build a machine? Cheers, Dave
pog champ; just saw the video you just shared. I never thought that you could make platic injection molding at home.
@@Hvandersleyen Have we convinced you to build your own? Cheers
@@Hvandersleyen Absolutely, never thought there could be a desktop-sized plastic injection molding machine. You guys @Action Box are genius.
Just came across this video and these guys right now. This is pretty much my exact response xD
This is a really nice machine for small runs or testing molds. I'd like to suggest two changes:
1) Attach a second ground wire to the heated tube as this only has minimal surface area connecting it to the rest of the chassis and the band heaters are mounted to it.
2) Connect an adjustable timer module to the switch for the hardening time so that it can be set and consistently repeated.
3) For the mold, you might be able to add a couple of extra ejection pins which push directly on the other half of the mold and a bolt to pull the ejection pins into the mold, so that you can release the two mold halves and the part in one motion by tightening that bolt. That would remove the need for the screwdrivers / screwdriver slots and the the hammering. Bonus points if you can use a small pneumatic cylinder mounted directly to the mold to actuate the ejection pins instead.
I must say Andrew, these are some genius suggestions. I will do all three. Thank you.
I have seen the video on your larger machine. In a way this is almost more impressive simply because despite its simplicity relative to the larger machine it is still able to achieve the same thing. Very well done!
Thanks! You’re right, this machine does achieve the same results in a simpler way. The one downside is that it’s not automated like our other machine, so we need to reopen and close the mold before each injection. Glad you enjoyed the build!
They sell mold release, we use it in industrial injection molding all the time, that should help you get the parts out without the vise. Really impressive and that's coming from a career tech who has been doing that professionally for 5 years.
Thank you Mr. Jones, I appreciate that coming from a professional. I think you would really appreciate the V2 design once we film it 😊. Cheers, Dave
Why don’t you mention the brand of the mold release you use. Contribute to the project.
@@ActionBOX Check the company PPE - Plastic Process Equipment. Almost every injection molding company gets at least some supplies from them, they have everything from brass tools and fittings, to sprays (mold release, rust preventative) all the way up to blank mold frames. They sell various screw on nozzles with different profiles (for instance if you are using nylon material there is a nozzle specifically for that resin)
You should be able to get a lot of parts off the shelf for your next project from them.
This is the first video I've seen on this channel, and I subscribed.
Thanks Gregely! We’ve got many other cool projects coming soon! Stay tuned 😃
WOW that about covers the way your video left me. I recently finished building a shredder for plastic with the idea of trying to build an injection machine. With your video it should be no problem. We like to make arduino projects and thought it would be cool if we could inject our own boxes. Now because of your sharing it will happen. I need to order a PID and more cartridge heaters. So now we weight for the mail. MANY THANKS from a new subscriber. Keep well.
That’s awesome, I’d love to see some pictures
has to be the cleanest little DIY desktop injection machine I have seen ... nice work Thank You for sharing .. cheers :)
Thanks Tim 😃
For the cross bar at the top you could use square tubing or something with structure to resist the bending while it presses. That probably help to prevent to push rod from going in at an angle.
Nice. Glad that you share this information openly
Thats what we do 😃
Great design! I’m going to try a pneumatic clamping system instead of bolting mold halves together. I will place the thermocouple in the sleeve where convection is not likely to offset chamber heat transfer as much. Also, the chamber holds around 1.7 cubic inches for anyone wondering.
Geat work, compliments! To improve the design you could do the following: 1) Take care of tube length from pressure origin to delivery point to be exactly the same, air volume is critical in pressure delivery. 2) Drill two holes in the lower, middle front and back plate to press through a hardened steel pin to support the lower part of the cylinder. Still great work, kudos for sharing.
Thanks for the tips!
What a beautiful machine. The results speak for themselves. Can’t wait for version 2
Thanks Brian 😃.
Where i live (southern germany) its so easy and cheap to get functional old industrial machines
i bought a working cnc turret lathe for 1200$ and a huge injection molding machine for the same
just rent here is hillariously expensive 14€ /m²
So i dont think a used old injection machine is outright a bad idea. but your approach is small and easily fitted everywhere
As mentioned in the video though, a hobbyist cant fit an 80 ton plastic injection machine in their home. This machine is not meant for industrial mass production. Cheers.
This is a really nice design for small batches! We posted it in our blog to anyone interesed in this subject! Keep the good work dudes (sub!)
That’s awesome. Please share your blog with me, I’d love to see it 😃. Thanks for your support in helping us grow our channel. Cheers, Dave
I like the concept (I'm in the Precious Plastic Community, Precious Plastic Romagna workspace) but I think there's something wrong with the design.
Having the cylinders on the sides saves space for sure, but you can't have their full force, since they're working with the lower area side of the pistons.
The top plate is also bending during injection, and before the injection piston enters the chamber it moves to the side, since the two pneumatic cylinders don't move at the same speed.
Better to prolong the injector barrel to guide the piston, and insert the material from a lateral hole in it, or add a plate to guide it on top of the barrel.
And also add reinforcement to the top plate, when it bends it forces the rods to the inside.
Will be following developments on this closely. Nice work!
You guys head and shoulders above every similar channel, looking forward V2.
Thanks Rick! We love to hear that 😎 Glad you enjoyed the video!
. Good prototype. Try using muffler/exhaust wrap for insulation
That’s a great idea actually. Thanks for your input 😊
I suggest the thermocouples placed at the very top of cylinder, right below the holding funnel that is still made of metal, since heat does not transfer quickly, even if the bottom plastic is already a liquid, there's no guarantee that plastic at top is also liquid, so make sure that the top get the proper heat for liquid plastic, before injecting the whole cylinder to the mold
thanks for your comment. We actually intentionally left the top cooler so the plastic does not melt there. Otherwise if it melts and gets sticky it makes it very hard to load new pellets. Cheers.
im a pretty small scale DIY guy. I don't even know half of what you are talking about, and don't see myself as able to make something like this work on my own, aside from putting together a kit, which is totally doable for me. I loved watching this though. hopefully someday I can get a small kit put together to do some fun stuff with.
Thanks for the video! I sub'd
Thanks for the awesome comment Kyle. We will be making a kit available for sale so keep an eye open for our Injekto 2.0 video in the near future (2 months)
@@ActionBOX sounds great! I look forward to it! Thanks again!
Just stumbled on this channel!!! Yes!!!! I am modding my Grizzly G9729 Mill lathe combo and I built a Lowrider v2 to use to make a bigger CNC but I want to build one of these for sure subbed and all notifications on
Welcome aboard!
First thing that comes to mind is this would be a great way to reuse failed 3d prints. Just grind them up and inject them into whatever you have a mold for... Depending on how cheap something like this could be made for, and how accessible molds could become, I could really see a lot of 3d printing hobbyists getting one.
I love this comment. I promise to incorporate your idea in our V2 design 😃. In the meanwhile, feel free to share our video if you know someone who would like it. We are really trying to grow our channel. Cheers, Dave
this vid was worth the watch. great content, and absolutly sending it on the production, look forward to the future of this channel
Thanks Tim! Glad you enjoyed the video 😃
You’re hitting my sweet spot. I was maybe three months from building a desktop injection machine…..I hope I can wait on your design. You guys do such a nice job designing these accessible tools, keep it up!
Thanks! Good for you for attempting to build your own machine 👏 We’re hoping to have the V2 ready in the near future. Stay tuned 😃
@@ActionBOX I put a small one together that was designed by Buster Beagle 3D that works amazingly well considering the cost. He is working on his 3rd version that uses the hydraulic cylinders similar to what your's demonstrates. I'm staying tuned!
Wow! Zis is Давид from Volleyball! Exquisite work Dave and Alan!
Thank you 😊. Glad you enjoyed the video.
I really like the engineering approach you guys take to design these small shop friendly machines. The biggest barrier for most DIYers will be the access to a lathe or a CNC milling machine. It would be cool to see you venture into selling some of the critical components at a budget friendly price.
We will do that in the V2 for sure to help get these into peoples hands. Cheers
@@ActionBOX much appreciated. Keep up the amazing work!
Such an awesome prototype. Keep it up, guys! I already want to build V2 for my own purposes!
Thanks, that means a lot. We are working on it and should have the video out in under 2 months. Cheers.
Elf stuff happening???
To increase injection pressure, you could change the design for the action of the pistons. Instead of contraction to inject, extend to inject. The amount of force is reduced on the piston head because of the rod.
If the piston chamber is 2" in diameter, that gives a volume of 12.56sqin. At 120psi, that would be 1507 lbs (6703N) of force. Because there is a rod on the retraction side, and it's about 1" round, this cuts the force down in half. Which you mention as 3300N (741lbs) of force.
So just by changing the design to extension to do the injection, you can still use the same size cylinders, and you'd get twice the force. This would keep the cost of the design down, and yield a more powerful unit.
Another thing I would do is make the injection rod have a taper for going into the hopper. This would minimize any introduction of air that might get trapped on the end as it's plunged down into the plastic. It would allow for more precise auto-alignment.
Hey, thanks for the detailed comment. This has been considered, and the issue with the extension is that while it provides a little more force, it would require me to flip the cylinders around, which would make the machine 50% taller. I was looking to make the smallest possible form factor. As per the injection rod, it has a slight taper, but perhaps more will indeed help. Cheers.
@@ActionBOX Yeah, flipping it over was the part I was tryin to figure out how to get around. Maybe there could be different versions available. Some ppl may not mind having a unit that is twice as tall. Me personally I have plenty of space for such a device.
But I also get the reason for needing to keep it compact, as well.
Great idea overall, though. I had been wondering about injection molding and how to go about it. This seems about as simple as you could get, to be honest. Job well done guys! 😎
Glad i found this channel! ... Keep up the good work, while im watching all your previous videos! :D
Thanks Raymond 😄 we’ve got lots of cool content coming soon!
I love you're guys' videos keep up the awesome work. You have no idea how helpful these things are, you're filling that perfect niche of small time tinkerers wanting to be able to produce consumer level products
Thanks Ross! Reading comments like this one makes all our efforts worthwhile! 😃 Do you have any plans to build a machine?
@@ActionBOX I absolutely will once I have the funds to make one. I've made a lot a 3D models that I've always wanted to injection mold, but never had the ability too, so this is definitely a project that I'll have to take on. 😀
Fantastic design! Great job! From the CAD model it looked like the nozzle is chamfered, you will get better contact with a radius instead. The mold needs to be machined with a matching radius, it doesn't need to be a small radius, either. You want the most surface area possible.
Thanks Davo 😃. We are limited by items we can purchase off the shelf to keep the cost down for our viewers but you are indeed correct. I’ll see if we can employ your suggestion for our V2 video. Cheers
If you ever start making parts with thinner walls or more complex geometries, add flow controls to your airlines. By controlling your injection velocity it can reduce/eliminate any burn marks you may have on smaller parts. Also, i saw another comment saying to add a release angle to your molds, you will absolutely need to do this in the future if you want to save your molds a beating from the hammer. Also, try playing around with your injection pressure/packing pressure regulation. By lowering your packing pressure you can save unnecessary wear on your molds as well.
This is a great project. I'm currently working on my own injection machine using an arbor press as a foundation.
That’s awesome, that’s also how I started. I would love to see some pics of what you’ve made so far. Cheers, dave
Very cool project!! It would really help if you add a 2 degree (or more) angle to your parts, it will make it much easier to eject. Where i worked we had 10, 50 and 80ton injection molding machines. We never used the 10ton because it was too small. Even for industry standards the 50 and 80 were also considered small. Thats why im very curious what youll be able to do with v2! Cant wait.
Thank you 😊. Video coming in around 6 weeks
Finally, a DIY project which are actually DYI project doesn't need exotic tools or professional workshop to make them. (If it's your hobby, you probably have a semi-basic / advanced tools already, but you don't need a full-size metal lathe)
I think this design can be change to use servor motors such that compression molding of composite parts is possible without the need for curing in an oven.
Maybe consider adding a vertical bar on top of the horizontal crossbar and screw the latter to the former creating a more rigid T-Profile?
That bending of the crossbar is pulling the pistons rods together which can't be healthy when the piston housings cannot comply with that inward motion.
That’s a great point. We have already made the appropriate changes in the V2 design. Cheers.
I like it, a lot. I was wondering if you have an idea about the maximum volume it can be used for.
We mention it in the video closer to the end. We did a test. It was 27.6grams. Cheers 😊
I love this channel! See you at 1 Million subs :)
Thanks Ka, We really hope to get there as well 😊. Feel free to give us a head start by sharing this on forums or other groups you may know where they would be interested. We already got some of our videos on HACKADAY. Thanks in advance, Dave
How about heated and cooled moulds? Add heaters to make the moulds hot, but just under the melting point of the plastic. Then, add water channels through the mould controlled by another solenoid valve. with the melt chamber and mould at temp, the inject button works as usual, with the heated mould acting to promote complete filling of even larger moulds. On release, the water cooling solenoid opens to quench the mould, draining into a sink drain or similar. Once the mould thermocouple indicates that the part should be sufficiently set, that releases the pneumatic solenoid to withdraw the ram. with a mould designed to open easily, another pneumatic ram could actuate the ejection rams, automaticly ejecting the new part. Adding fully automated closing, dogging, undogging, and openning of the mould itself, as well as an automaticly feeding hopper, and you have a turn-key solution to injection moulding parts on a (light) industrial scale.
Adding all that will make it much bigger. Our point here was to make something as hobby friendly as possible. There is a reason industrial machines are huge, but you are on the right track to improve this concept. Cheers.
Wow. Good small injector to learn from.
Sure is, Thanks for watching.
Fantastic work! Looking forward to seeing progress on the v2
Thanks Thomas! Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the V2 😉
My suggestion for the thermocouple is in the center in between the heater bands.
Super cool! Can't wait for the plans(for everything) in your store!
Thanks Matthew! Glad you think it’s cool 😎 We’ll notify everyone through the channel when new products/files are available on our website. Cheers, Alan
THIS ITS AMAZING
Thank you 😃
Guys, try using two starts buttons for simultaneously pressing by two hands for safety.
Sounds good. We will incorporate your idea into the V2.
Fantastic Video!
Thanks 😃
If you preheat the mold, you can make bigger parts. In large production runs, the molds are designed to run at a higher temps. Some also included cooling to keep them from getting to hot.
Thanks for the tip 😃
The mold will anyway be hot after some shots, after ten shots you need thick gloves to touch the mold.
It's cool that it worked with a aluminium injection barrel. I was considering making an injection machine and thought i needed to make the barrel out of stainless steel for it not to wear out.
But you should do something about the air cylinders not moving at the same speed making the plunger tilt. This can also cause the cylinders to bind.
Thanks for your input. The cylinders use to have the tilting and binding problem but not anymore. We hold the plunger shaft loose so it can guide itself into the hole and that seems to work well. Stainless is probably an overkill but steel would definitely be recommended. Thanks for watching in such detail, I appreciate your comment and support 😊
@@ActionBOX the thermal conductivity of SS is horrible. It would really slow your ramp up time and cool down as well.
@@kenreynolds1000 This is a very true point. Ken, which metal would you suggest would be best (regardless of price) ? Cheers, Dave
4130 is fairly strong, tough, reasonable to machine and easy to source. It'd be my choice for a DIY machine. You don't need anything more exotic unless you want it to run continuously for years. Stainless is a bitch to machine and likes to gall.
Pretty cool stuff, guys. This one actually has me thinking about a future project. Maybe even at a smaller scale. It would give me something to do with all the print trimmings.
Great idea. Hopefully when we make the V2 available for purchase you will have use for it 😉.
@@ActionBOX if the V2 is as solid as i think it'll be and for a reasonable price, go ahead and link the purchase link once it's ready :)
Awesome project!
I think you might have made an error when calculating for cylinder forces.
Assuming the existing cylinders have an internal diameter of 2", the combined force @ 120 psi would be close to 3300 N when the cylinders are extending.
The force when retracting is less because we are only applying pressure to the surface area around the cylinder rod.
Assuming the rod is 1" in diameter, the actual force being applied to extrude is 2432 N.
You may have already factored this in but I thought it was worth mentioning. :)
This looks great guys. You guys really are underrated
Thanks! We’re only getting started 😎 Feel free to share with others you think would find value in our content - it helps us grow! Cheers, Alan
Very underrated channel for sure! Keep on being cool
Thank you! We’ll keep on being cool 😎 Feel free to share with others you think would also find our channel interesting. Cheers, Alan
Молодцы ребята! Удачная и компактная конструкция.
Thanks! 😊
You could consider using a slight angle on the side walls of your mold (draft angle) to improve separation.
That’s a great idea haha. I’ll be doing that for the next time for sure. Cheers, Dave
A really small angle is enough, about 0.5-1 degree only
Great product
Thank you 😃
This is amazing! I can't wait for the V2 video. I'm gonna have to build one of them myself!
Awesome, we will be making the kits available so make sure to stay tuned 😊
@@ActionBOX
You guys make such cool stuff! Glad I found your videos on Reddit!
Thanks! Our goal is to share as much cool stuff as we can 😃 Glad enjoyed the video!
This is cool super cool. If I was going to build one, I'd use an I beam to connect the pneumatic cylinders and ram. I would also make a mold table that could be set at different heights with pins so you wouldn't need the scissor lift.
Awesome, thanks Noah. Ill add that to my list of design considerations for the V2. You are most likely correct, and we will most likely listen 😃. Feel free to share our video if you know someone who would like it. We are really trying to grow our channel. Cheers, Dave
TH-cam suggested another video of yours and now I'm here as a new subscriber. Awesome videos and like how you get straight to the points with explanations. I'm a noob with injection molding so how do you prevent too much plastic from being injected into the mold? Example is if you had a smaller volume mold with the V1 injector?
Thanks, that’s means a lot 😊. With this machine it just fills the mold until no more goes in, but the pressure stays. In other words, your mold needs to be closed very tight so plastic doesn’t leak from the sides. The machine will then naturally stop by the fact that the back pressure is just too high. Does that answer your question?
@@ActionBOX it does and thanks!
Cool video. Definitely reinforce the top plate; use angle stock, c-channel, an I-beam, or some type of truss. Also reinforce the plate that the springs attach to. I would suggest looking at a hydraulic press for inspiration since the designs are very similar.
Thanks for the suggestions. Hydraulic was a co side ration but we wanted to use air as more people have air compressors at home than hydraulic pumps, and our goal is to make this machine accessible to the average hobbyist. I’ll definitely consider your points for the V2
@@ActionBOX - Definitely stick with pneumatics to power the machine. I mentioned hydraulic presses as a design inspiration since they use similar mechanics to your injection molding machine. If you look at a hydraulic press you will see the heavy duty beams required to take the large amounts of force.
@@makingtechsense126 o gotcha. Makes sense. Maybe I’ll consider designing a machine with hydraulics for comparison 😉. Although I would probably want to make the machine out of steel in that case 😂. Thanks again, Dave
Great design. Great work
Thank you 😃
please continue on this. This is valuable research for small businesses and entrepreneurs
We’ve got some updates on this machine coming soon 👀 Stay tuned!
This is so cool! Congrats on your success so far, can't wait to see what V2 can do!
Thanks! 😄 V2 is coming soon… stay tuned!
You should have two thermocouples and two temperature controls so you can heat the "zones" independently.
Thanks Jason. I will add that to my notes for the V2. Cheers.
Nice and simple! You might just want to turn the pneumatic cylinders upside down on your v2 so you get the maximum force out of them. You're currently pressurising the rod end side, so piston area is reduced; I think the cylinders won't develop maximum output force this way. Also watch out for using the blue polyurethane airlines near a heat source, you might consider using PTFE tube inside the frame.
Maybe im Missing Something but turning the Pistons around doesnt effect the force Output. They would need to Press and Not to pull with the cylinders to achieve Higher force (which wouldnt Work in this Compact concept). Greetings
@@clypeum5063 100% correct, that's what I meant by turning them upside down. They need to press and not pull. It wouldn't take up more desk space, just be a bit taller. Or they could fix the plunger and have the cylinders apply pressure upward to the pellet receiver and die, so wouldn't need any packing shims... more complicated but anyway, I'll leave it to them youtube science magicians I guess
@@clypeum5063 Forgive me. What you're missing is the fact that the piston rod is inside the bore with the face of the piston that is being acted on by the compressed air driving, or pulling the cylinder down in the injection stroke. The rod takes up space on the face of the piston that would otherwise be available for the compressed air to act on. I hope this makes sense, I'm pretty sure that's what Shaun meant, but I might be wrong :)
@@frackcha yeah, thats what i and he ment. Force equals pressure Times Area. The rod Takes some aera and thus force away.
Actually, you don't need that much pressure. Depending on the mould, i inject with not more than three bar, otherwise i deform my mould. My moulds are three pieces flat metal "sandwich" with the cavity in the middle.
As with industrial machines, the "problem" is the mold parts. You can sell CNC molds service.
Holy damn this is cool!
Thank you 😊
nice! I'm currently using a (smaller) hand powered diy machine. I was thinking about converting it to air now I feel even more tempted ;) Looking forward to your V2 and great video as always :D
Haha glad we inspired you to convert to air! Did you build your current machine by yourself?
@@ActionBOX yes, had an old arbor press (I can only lift it when disassembled). I just added a plunger and a steal barrel, two heater bands and a PID controller. works pretty good with literally tons of force. But it's hard to get constant results due to varying speed and force when manually operated. Also have a concept (and some parts) for a fully automated machine but don't know if I'll ever find the the to do it. So I enjoy seeing you guys do such things ;)
@@MakenModify love it. Thanks again for your support. We have several more injection machines planned out for the future so I guess you will see them as we build them. Cheers
From what ive seen, its best to have several heaters in this style. So that the chamber is warmed up evenly, so maybe have two heaters and two thermocouples and two pid controllers?
or some pid controllers take in multiple thermocouples, which would be even more ideal just plug in 2-3 in dividing sections and go from there
This is an awesome recommendation. We have already implemented it into the V2, and you are absolutely correct. Cheers.
Dude, I need to make this. Thank you for showing us
For sure. We plan on making the V2 mechanical parts available as a kit. Cheers, Dave
Nice job! Looking foward to V2!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video 😃
the "safest" place to put the thermocouple is under the heater bands where the temperature is hottest (use kapton tape to hold a bare thermocouple probe to the tube and anther peace of tape to under it so it is electrically insulated ) but it will read very hot and require a large offset to work correctly, drilling a hole or milling a slot into the heater tube will get it closer to the temperature at the inside wall would be (best but complicated).
OR
(more recommended) you can tape or screw the thermocouple near the heating bands a just the right distance so it senses the heat quickly and doesn't overheat but far enough away that is is similar temp to the inside the tube (my first guess would be space equal to the tube wall thickness)
also the heating band position matters, it there a reason they are next to each other instead of spaced evenly along the tube (with the thermocouple in the middle)?
Thats a great suggestion with the thermocouple placement. The bands were arbitrarily placed together to act as a single unit. not further reason. Perhaps you are right.
Haha you got me. I didn’t guess that it was a simplified injection molder after watching the level the automatic unit. I couldn’t see the ram in the IG picture. Cool project.
Thanks Ken! Glad you came back and watched the video (a true fan) 😃 Stay tuned for more cool videos! Cheers, Alan
@@ActionBOX you should look at making plastic extrusions with your machine . You could build dies and extrude a couple feet of edge/corner trim etc. The dies are simple compared to IM. Could it be done small scale? I know the big extrudes usually waste the first 20 ft or so and that goes back to remelt.
@@kenreynolds1000 can you send me a picture of the molds that are used? If the dies aren’t too complex I can give it a shot.
@@ActionBOX sorry, I only spec the cross sections and colors from my suppliers. Employer’s IP. I have only seen people making filaments or larger HDPE “lumber” on YT and thought it would be cool to see refined products like your boxes done small scale.
@@kenreynolds1000 thanks, I appreciate that 😊
The best machine!
Thanks 😃
can this injection machine print the size of the helmet model?
Do you guys have a time frame on when the V2 video will be out because I'm seriously excited to see what you guys make!
I’m about two months we should have this available. Cheers
You guys are awesome!
Nice design! It looks like the older hand-operated ones, but with a nice level of automation and assistance w/ the air cylinders! Were you going to make designs, or kits, or are you going for sell-able units?
Awesome, thanks for the compliment. We weren't thinking about it, but given the huge demand for this we may launch a kickstarter real soon. We will post it in the description of the video. Cheers, Dave
Nice project. Keep it going.
Thanks Erjon! Glad you’re enjoying the content 😃
There should be 2 buttons for injection as a safety feature to insure both hands are away from the pinch points.
Thank you, we have already implemented this in injekto 2.0 thank you 😊
you use a air pump, right? besides using the output, you can consider also using the "sucking" side of the pump as well. made a gas nozzle on the mold, if the injection process can "vacuum" the air pressure inside the mold, the plastic can flow better without bubbles. to achieve that, you may need a milk jar size container as some sort of "buffer". those stainless steel pressure cooking pots in dollar store is a good candidate. you can adjust the "sucking" pressure and volume by putting solid objects in the pot.
Great video and work guys 😊👍🏼 You have a bright future ahead of you ;)
Thank you! We really appreciate it 😄
This seems remarkably elegant!
Thanks! It was really fun to build 😃 Have you ever designed or built any fun machines (big or small)?
I found in impossible to leave the channel without subscribing. The vid was captivating...in the most literal sense..
Thank you 😊. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for subscribing.
You are insane … in a good way … and in an 11 minute video you enabled me to build a machine to start a small business idea which would not be possible otherwise
Thank you 😃, much appreciated. Make sure to check out the INJEKTO 2.0 video that we released as well. It is much better.
@@ActionBOX Version 2 looks amazing but sadly a bit more kit based than a diy repeatable build
i wish you guys much success. keep at it i want to buy one no assembly required!
Thanks! We’re working on the V2 😃
That's reaally cool! I always wanted to get myself a desktop injection machine. I wonder if cast metal from a 3d print form would be robust and precise enough for a mold. Maybe you could try to collab with another YT channel that does metal casting from 3d resin prints?
Its not a bad idea. If anyone reaches out I would be open to the idea. Cheers.
Super awesome guys :-) Would a 3D Printed mold hold or would the mold melt or the pressure be to high?
We will be finding out in the Injekto 2.0 video 😂. I’ll try to make all different types of molds. Cheers.
This is really amazing - congratulations. Your videos are great!
Thanks Matthew! Glad you're enjoying them 😊
I used to do wax injection and we heated the molds to help the wax flow. I am sure you could increase the size and complexity with heated molds. Nice design, i might make one.
Awesome idea. We have tried that and it works, but the cooling cycle takes too long, and the complexity makes it much larger. Might try again in the V2. Cheers.
Well done - very impressive !
What volume of plastic can it extrude, please ?
best thing ive seen in ages
great ideas guys
I defo need one, whens the kickstarter ?
How much would you be willing to pay for it? we are working on launching a kickstarter but need to know whether peoples willingness to buy is beyond our costs. Thanks so much for your awesome comment and compliment. Cheers, Dave