Design Tips

Get quick advice on creating plastic, metal, and elastomeric parts for 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, and injection molding. Designing with manufacturability in mind can accelerate production time and reduce production costs.

 

Glass Transition Temperature of Polymers

There’s an important but often overlooked material consideration when designing parts for plastic injection molding. It’s called Tg, short for glass transition temperature. We’ll get into the science behind it all later, but for now, just know that there is a temperature where amorphous materials transition from a glassy/rigid state to a leathery/rubbery state.

Injection Molding

 
Explore the 3D-Printed Hexahedron 

The Hexahedron combines several 3D printing materials and technologies to teach you all about additive manfuacturing. The design aid will help you avoid common pitfalls and help us make better parts for you.

 
Improve Your Molded Parts With the Design Cube

The design cube demonstrated in this video shows several design challenges—and solutions—for injection-molded parts.

Design Essentials

We've compiled our most essential manufacturing tips into three downloadable design guides on 3D printing, machining, and molding. Each looks at improving manufacturability, reducing production costs through design, material selection, and more.