Design better parts

for injection molding

6 design tips to avoid common defects

Tip 1 Tip 2

Add draft angels Avoid undercuts

• Undercuts make it harder to eject • Use these methods to make it easier
a > 2°
parts from a mold to remove your part: use shutoffs,
bumpoffs, sliding side-actions and
cores and move the parting line

• Draft angles make parts

easier to remove from
the mold
• Add a minimum of 2° to
all surfaces
• For textured surfaces,
add a 0.4° angle for every
0.1 mm of depth

Tip 3 Tip 4

Add bosses, ribs and side walls Use constant wall thickness /
add smooth transitions
• Bosses are designed for screws, • Your parts should have
threaded inserts and other types of walls of equal thickness
fastening and assembly hardware - • Parts with non-uniform
they make your parts stronger walls may melt as the
material cools

• For fastening, the boss’ outer

diameter should be twice the nominal • Use a chamfer or fillet to make
diameter of the screw/insert smoother transitions if you need
• The inner diameter should equal the different wall thicknesses (3x the
diameter of the screw difference in thickness)

Tip 5 Tip 6

Hollow out thick Round all edges

sections and add • Edges have to be smooth to ensure
ribs •
material flows into the mold
Walls will be consistent everywhere

• To avoid warping and shrinkage, limit

the max thickness of any section W
and/or make them hollow Rin < 0.5×W
• Use ribs to strengthen hollow sections
of the part

Rout = Rin+W
• Use a radius of 0.5x the wall
thickness for interior edges
• Add a radius equal to the interior
radius plus wall thickness for
exterior edges