[chopin]

But would you want one as a hobbyist? Injection molding shines when it comes to mass production. For hobbyist purposes 3D printing seems a much better alternative. There are numerous companies out there offering this in a higher quality than FDM.

[culturestate]

It really depends how you define “hobbyist.” I’m a designer by training and I (mostly) always designed purely digital products, but after moving to PM and consulting for a couple IoT companies I’ve become very interested in industrial design and design for manufacturing.

I’m especially intrigued by next-gen manufacturing (automated/lights out, 3D metal, etc.), and would absolutely love to have a small 5-axis CNC mill and some kind of injection molding facility alongside the 3D printing capability I already have for prototyping. Each tool enables a different range of options for design and material.

This isn’t now and likely won’t be my profession any time soon, so I would very much consider myself a hobbyist in this space.

[thekhatribharat]

Check out https://www.pocketnc.com/ - desktop 5-axis CNC mills.

[culturestate]

I've looked at these, but if I went down this road it would take a fairly large commitment to begin with (I'd have to rent a separate shop) so I'd rather have something I could grow into, maybe a Datron C5 or similar.

[jacquesm]

3D printing is slow and parts can be hard to produce due to support needs and warp. A low volume injection molding machine would definitely be useful, especially if the molds would last 10's to 100's of pieces.

[debatem1]

Sure, for the same reason that I have a vertical mill in my basement. It'll never break even, but it'll always be fun to hold up a part and know that I, and I alone, made it.

[chopin]

I have a mill and a lathe. These are wonderful for one-offs. With an injection mold I first need to create a mold and then the object. I just don't see the point (apart form maki9ng hundreds of the same object). Why not create the object directly? Afaik injection molding has even more restrictions compared to subtractive shaping (I've seen amazing things done with the latter).

[debatem1]

Making dozens or hundreds of the same object is the point. The example army men from my linked article is a good one-- I could probably make hundreds of them on my creality, but it would take less time and the end product would be smoother injection molding them.

[yitchelle]

Perhaps as a rapid prototyping machine, this might work. As a hobbyist, I am not so sure.