From CAD to Injection-Molded Parts in 12 Hours

For a bootstrapped hardware startup, traditional injection molding can be painfully slow and expensive. In this session, I’ll walk through a faster path: first 3D printing the mold to validate the part, then machining an aluminum mold on a Genmitsu Pro Ultra desktop CNC, and finally using a roughly $700 desktop injection molding machine to start producing plastic parts the same day.

I’ll talk through the real tradeoffs, what this workflow can and can’t do, and why it can be a huge advantage for founders trying to move fast without spending thousands on tooling, waiting weeks for overseas suppliers, or getting hit with extra costs like tariffs and shipping delays. If you’re building physical products and need a scrappy, practical way to prototype and iterate faster, this talk is for you.

• All levels
• Development
• Startups
• Emerging Tech
• Design
• Community