Plastic Injection Molding a Piece with Undercuts

[matt9woodman]

Hello All,
I am a newcomer to Plastic Injection Molding and would really appreciate some advice.
I have a prototype object that will be made from a type of polypropylene. I only need a maximum of 10 units initially to ensure that the product is satisfactory. The issue is that there are many undercuts in the design. Imagine if you will, a variety of different shaped trees growing randomly in a field. This will be the design. The trees and the field will need to be formed as a single object to maintain strength.
I printed a similar design which was aesthetically OK but due to material limitations was not suitable.
Maybe Plastic Injection Molding is not the approach I should be taking?
Thank you in advance

 

[mcgyvr]

Other than the top right one I don't see any glaring issues with the other 3..
But slight changes to the top right would make it easily moldable..

Spend a little time reading through the basic resources here..

https://www.protolabs.com/resources/whitepapers

https://www.protolabs.com/resources/injection-molding-design-tips/united-states/2010-03/

https://www.protolabs.com/resources/injection-molding-design-tips/united-states/2010-08/

In general, if you can avoid "side actions", "bump-offs",etc... I "attempt" as best I can to do a simple "clam shell" type mold.. The tooling cost,etc... is far cheaper that way..