Short runs without tooling — 10 to 500 parts manufactured in ASA, ABS and PETG

When 50 parts are too many for manual work and too few for injection molding

An aluminum injection mold costs tens of thousands of SEK before the first part is made. It pays off when you need thousands of parts. If you need 30, 100, or 400 parts, you end up in a gap where injection molding is too expensive and manual work takes too long.

That's where we come in. We manufacture short series directly from the CAD model, without tooling and therefore with no setup costs. If you want to change a detail between two batches, it costs nothing extra — it's a file, not a milled steel mold.

What this means in practice

• No tooling costs. You pay per part and for the engineering work, nothing more.
• No minimum volume. Order 5 now and 50 in six months.
• Modifications are free. A new version between production runs requires no new mold.
• Geometry that cannot be injection molded. Internal channels, lattices, and undercuts that a mold cannot release.
• No inventory. Manufacture when you sell instead of tying up capital in 2,000 parts.

Material selection based on what the part needs to withstand

Material	Withstands	Suitable for
ASA	UV and approximately 100 °C	Outdoor parts, engine bays, anything exposed to the sun
ABS	Impact, bonding, machining	Casings, automotive components, interiors
PETG	Chemicals and impact	Parts exposed to oil, fuel, or cleaning agents
PA / Nylon	Fatigue and wear	Mechanical parts, fixtures, sliding surfaces
TPU	Bending and vibration	Gaskets, grommets, dampers

The first question we ask isn't what material you want, but where the part will be installed. If it's going to sit behind a windshield in the sun, PLA is the wrong choice no matter how cheap it is, since it softens well below the temperature a dashboard reaches on a summer day. If it needs to carry continuous loads, we need to talk about creep—plastics under sustained load will deform even well below their ultimate tensile strength, which is the single most common reason why a part that worked fine this week has sagged after a year.

How we design for series production instead of a single part

A prototype only needs to work once. A production run must be repeatable many times with identical results. Concretely, this means we set the build orientation so the load runs along the material rather than across the layers, avoid support material on surfaces that need to be visible or fit precisely, maintain a wall thickness even enough to prevent warping, and replace snap fits with screws or metal inserts where the part will be assembled and disassembled more than a couple of times.

If the part requires a spring function, we normally suggest a real metal spring or a magnet instead of a plastic flexure. A flexure looks elegant in CAD but tends to lose its elasticity after a couple of hundred cycles. It is better that you know this before the batch is manufactured rather than after.

What you get

1. Fixed quote within 24 hours with price per part at different quantities, so you can see where the volume discount applies.
2. Sample part first — you approve fit and finish before the batch is run.
3. Batch delivered within the agreed lead time, normally 1–3 weeks depending on quantity.
4. Reorders when you need more, directly from the saved model.

Frequently asked questions

What is a reasonable batch size for you?

From 10 to a few hundred parts is where we are most competitive. Over a few thousand parts of a simple geometry, injection molding is usually cheaper, and we will tell you if that's the case.

Will all parts be exactly identical?

Yes, within the tolerances the technology provides. We use the same model, the same material and the same settings throughout the entire batch.

Can I change the design between two batches?

Yes, and there is no extra tooling cost. Only any potential design work required for the change.

How durable are the parts over time?

In ASA, they withstand sun and heat up to approximately 100 °C for years. Under constant mechanical load, we factor creep into the design and may need to reinforce or switch materials.

What does it cost?

The price depends on volume per part, material, and quantity. You get a fixed quote within 24 hours before any work begins.