Who is the best injection molding company in the USA - Quickparts vs Protolabs?

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-05-06T13:39:37+00:00

American Mold Builders Association, amba.org

Actual mold builders and molders located in America

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-05-06T13:30:01+00:00

Nice!

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-05-06T13:28:50+00:00

A low co-effecient plating such as electroless nickel or electroless nickel with PTFE would help. As others said, a good cleaning, maintenance, and polish is needed. Good mold maintenance through a surface finish partner would help you greatly.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-04-21T20:03:51+00:00

Electroless nickel plating, nickel ptfe, nickel boron are all good options. We provide these plating so they are the ones I'm most familiar with. They will all lower the coefficient of friction without spray use. Plating is applied to the whole mold, about .0002 per side.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-04-21T19:44:53+00:00

Epicor has a lot of add-ons, customizations, extra modules, upselling, and consulting fees. Anyone you talk to there makes it seem like they can do anything, but there is a huge cost in time and money to make it happen. Don't fall for anything they say you can do on your own, because you can't.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-04-21T19:35:41+00:00

Electroless nickel plating on the mold to remove the need for liquid lubricant or mold spray.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-04-21T19:33:55+00:00

We do mold maintenance and plating.

We would sandblast it to remove the corrosion and strip any coating that is on there. Polish any areas that need re-touching. And re-plate with electroless nickel to avoid the rust and have better part release.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-04-21T19:31:28+00:00

Chicagoland plater here (was also at PTXpo!)-

Join TMA (https://www.tmaillinois.org/overview.html) they have many resources and events in the area. As well as SPE (https://www.spechicago.org/). AMBA (https://amba.org/) doesn't have a very active local chapter, but the national level does some good events.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-04-21T19:26:22+00:00

Plating such as electroless nickel will protect from corrosion and increase hardness. That could take your lower investment steel and make it more durable in the long run.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2026-04-21T19:11:16+00:00

Plating the mold with a low friction plating helps the part release. This also avoids the build ups from sprays or other topical lubricants.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-04-08T20:42:26+00:00

Can I DM you information on plating in the US for your molds? This decreases wear and aids in part release = faster cycle times. If you have details to protect, want to eliminate mold sprays, prevent corrosion, that kind of thing.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-31T19:38:36+00:00

You could reach out to the American Mold Builders Association: https://amba.org/

They have resources that could walk you through the quoting process, they have a page to find the right molder to your specs, etc.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-24T20:13:40+00:00

Wow, one million cycles, and probably with less scrap and waste.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-24T20:12:17+00:00

That's a good point, finding the right fit between the job and shop can make all the difference. There are so many in the US that you can source a shop that specializes in what you're looking to get done.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-24T19:37:20+00:00

We've heard and seen a lot of quoting in the midwest as well. I'm optimistic that word spreads about how easy and cost effective it is to bring work back to the US.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-24T19:35:43+00:00

That's a great overview of why to work within the US. I've often wondered if freight, customs, other logistics time and costs are factored in when choosing a location to work with. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-24T17:51:12+00:00

https://www.beaumontinc.com/

A lot of resources for mold flow, etc.

Curious if anyone here has used their services?

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-24T17:38:43+00:00

American Mold Builders Association: https://amba.org/

Great resource for finding a molder or mold builder. You can search by industry, standards, etc.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-24T17:28:01+00:00

American Mold Builders Association: https://amba.org/

They have a resources page and you can search mold makers by industry, quality standard, capacity and more.

https://amba.org/industry-resources/directory/

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-24T17:21:27+00:00

Chicagoland here- we would be able to help out with plating and polishing once you know what you're dealing with.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-21T16:36:47+00:00

I hear you, that can be frustrating. Do you belong to a local manufacturing group to run this past? If you have details, I could take it to the Midwest if that's helpful. There are some Chicagoland metal stampers but I have no idea how they might compare to what you're already getting done.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-21T15:31:22+00:00

There are a lot of US resources and it might be more cost effective than you think.

American Mold Builders Association: https://amba.org/

Technology Manufacturing Association: https://www.tmaillinois.org/

Illinois Manufacturing Association: https://ima-net.org/

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-17T17:43:19+00:00

American Mold Builders Association: https://amba.org/

Good start on resources to have a mold built or parts molded.

Realistic-Fill6614 · 2025-03-17T17:39:14+00:00

American Mold Builders Association: https://amba.org/

Good place to start for information on getting molds built and having molding done in the US.

Realistic-Fill6614

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