In mid-February of this year, we received an inquiry for a ballistic shield handle and box from a customer in the United States. The customer is a well-known security service provider in the United States. This time they have developed new ballistic shields (bullet-proof shields) with a plastic handle (marked in red below), which requires us to report the mold fee and injection molding price (material: HDPE, quantity: 500).

Contents hide
1. Holly’s Suggestion
2. Prototype production process
3. the production of molds
4. Conclusion

1. Holly’s Suggestion

Generally in the design stage, we usually recommend customers to use our prototype service to verify their design first, so as to avoid unqualified large-scale products due to unreasonable design. The prototype services we provide include 3D Printing, CNC Machining service, and Vacuum Casting service. Considering that this product is relatively large and requires a certain strength, we quoted the price of the CNC prototype.

Holly’s prototype and Molding Injection services are very advantageous in China. Customers are very satisfied with our prices. We soon received the sample fee from customers. We started to make prototypes for customers at the end of February.

2. Prototype production process

Rapid prototypes are different from other standard products, and we may need to modify them repeatedly during the production of prototypes. Therefore, suppliers need to be more patient and have excellent professional skills to be able to identify customer problems and propose solutions in a timely manner.

It took us 4 days to make this prototype. Surprisingly, when we were ready to paint the prototype, the customer changed the design, so it was necessary to make another prototype. In order to save costs, the customer accepted the original prototype to test first, and let us send the finished prototype to him first.

The next day, the customer sent the 3D drawings of the box (STEP format). After communication, we decided to use the CNC prototype to make the mold of the box (because the size is relatively large, it needs a certain structural strength). After a week, we sent the finished box prototype to the customer.

This case can derive an article about how customers choose the type of prototype that suits them, and what is the difference between each prototype.

One month after the customer received the prototype, we received feedback from the customer that he changed the design and needed to remake the handle and box. The customer received the handle this time and found that the connection of the handle was broken because it was glued, and the disconnection was caused by the collision during transportation. For packages sent to customers, we usually do the following protections to avoid damage to the mold due to transportation and waste of customers’ money and time:

For this problem, we suggest that customers can use 502 glue, 301 glue, and starch to mix and bond firmly.

3. the production of molds

Until the end of May, we received feedback from customers again, they began to prepare to open the mold for injection molding of the handle. Still, this time we received a new version, this time we found that there is a problem with the direction of the aperture, which is very important for mold manufacturing. The difficulty, it is recommended that the customer revise the direction.

In the first ten days of June, the customer started to make the mold of the box, and until the beginning of July, the two molds were completed. According to the customer’s intention, we will send one of the handles to another supplier in the customer’s country and send 2 sets of samples to the customer for testing.

In mid-July, the customer reported that the handle is not strong enough, it is easy to break, and the sink mark is obvious.

As shown in the figure below, the box’s surface is not smooth enough, and the miniature is more obvious.

For these issues, we recommend:

Handle: We think that the toughness is not enough, and the recommended material is PP, adding fiber glass and adding some Reinforcing ribs.

Box: Since the original wall thickness of the product is too thick, in order to avoid the microcosm, the surface is not smooth enough, and there are still microcosms. We recommend that the material be PP, increase the glass fiber, and reduce the wall thickness by 3-4mm.

But the customer couldn’t accept the reduced wall thickness of the box, so we tried PP and glass fiber again, but it was still not very good. For this reason, we suggest customers to change to nylon, the strength of nylon will be better, it can also avoid microcosm well, and the surface will be smoother. We will sample again and send samples to customers again for verification.

The customer is satisfied with the nylon samples, but since the price of nylon is much higher than HDPE and the weight has increased a lot, the customer changed the quantity from 500 sets at the beginning to 100 sets. Because this is a new product, we understand the customer’s budget control and market feedback concerns, and we also agreed to make 100 sets first.

In mid-September, we sent these 100 sets to the customer’s freight forwarder. Although there were only 100 sets, due to the large size of the product, the final total volume was also relatively large. It was thrown away and packed with a wooden pallet to prevent product damage. .

4. Conclusion

This time, the mold of the bulletproof shield handle and box did not progress smoothly. The customer changed the design, and the material was not suitable. The final decision on the nylon material required professional communication. Therefore, it is very important to find a reliable supplier of rapid prototyping prototypes and molds!

If the customer finally wants to mass-produce injection molded parts, they can also consult us before making a prototype to see if the current product design can be injection molded. We will advise customers on the feasibility of the injection molding process in order to reduce costs and optimize the design to make the product have a better surface and performance. The verification of the prototype stage takes a lot of time, we can use the prototype with the optimized design, and try to avoid the later prototype and the modification of the mold. We provide a one-stop service that can help customers put products into the market faster and win business opportunities.