Hi Ben,
So, I've seen a few youtube videos of people converting the Harbor Freight mini-mill to be CNC and I've seen the maker bot plastic extrusion 3D printer, now let's connect the dots and create a plastic injection molder. With the HF CNC mill, one could, in theory, mill metal molds for an injection molding machine. The maker bot guys figured out how to control the melting of plastic for their extruder. If you put those things together, you get the basic parts of an injection molding machine. The only thing left is a hopper fed piston type arrangement that can soften/melt the plastic and push it into the mold.
To me, the injection molding machine is the last unconquered territory of the homemade fabrication machines. CNC has been done. Circuit board reflow has been done. Picking and placing of electronic parts has been done. 3D printing is a work in progress. However, injection molding plastic parts is still beyond the capabilities of the average DIY'er. To have a plastic part injection molded by a company costs a couple thousand dollars minimum. If I had a benchtop molding machine and a CNC metal mill that could crank out molds for me, I'd be in plastic molding heaving.
Imagine if you could mold the shells of your game machine laptops instead of gluing/stacking/screwing CNC'd plastic parts.
Thanks,
Dave
