PLASTICS & INJECTION MOULDING Benchtop injection molding hits the mark


SCOPOS uses two compact APSX-PIM machines to manufacture hundreds of plastic components each week for its Athena electronic scoring target systems.


F


or Irish OEMs that require moulded plastic parts, there is often a fairly large gap between making a few prototypes and


moving into full-scale injection moulding production. A conventional injection moulding machine


certainly provides the production capacity. However, if an OEM only needs several hundred parts a week, or production rises and falls based on orders, investing in a larger system may be difficult to justify. Outsourcing solves the equipment problem, but then the manufacturer is dependent on someone else for production schedules, quantities, lead times and inventory.


There is another option.


Benchtop plastic injection moulding equipment has advanced to the point where smaller machines can be used for actual production, not simply prototyping. For smaller parts in low-to-mid volume applications, this provides an opportunity to bring moulding in-house without immediately taking the much larger step into full-scale injection moulding. For Pete Holden, the application is a good example. His plastic parts go into a product people deliberately shoot at.


ELECTRONIC SCORING TARGETS Holden developed the electronics and mechanics behind the Athena electronic scoring target offered by SCOPOS for competitive shooting. Instead of firing at conventional paper targets that must eventually be retrieved and scored, the Athena system determines where the pellet or .22 caliber bullet passes through the target and immediately sends that information to a monitor at the shooter’s position and to spectator displays. This gives the shooter immediate feedback instead of waiting for the target to be retrieved and scored.


SCOPOS also offers Orion software to manage


scoring and competitions, along with Rezults, where shooters can view results and see how they compare with other competitors. The systems are used for organized competitive shooting, including military and ROTC shooting programs. However, Athena is not merely a software


product. There is a physical electronic scoring target sitting downrange that creates an interesting design requirement. “[The Athena unit] has to be relatively robust to


take an attack from a poor shot,” says Holden. “It has been fun to figure out how to make them survive despite being shot. Not too many products have to worry about that.” The Athena system incorporates approximately 20 plastic components. The main plastic frame is too


large to manufacture on Holden’s benchtop APSX machines and is currently outsourced. However, many of the smaller parts are molded in-house. To manufacture his products, Holden already


operates more than 40 pieces of manufacturing equipment, including CNC mills, laser cutting, and powder coating equipment. He estimates approximately half of the equipment was purchased overseas.


Although much of that equipment has performed adequately, getting assistance when there is a problem can be another matter. “I was looking for a plastic injection moulding machine where I could get good customer service,” says Holden. “That is when I found APSX.” APSX manufactures compact benchtop


28 September/October 2026 Irish Manufacturing


plastic injection moulding equipment designed for prototyping as well as low-to-mid-volume production. Holden says he purchased two APSX-PIM machines five or six years ago. The APSX-PIM is considerably smaller than


conventional production injection molding equipment, measuring approximately 109 × 25 × 38 cm (43 × 10 × 15 in). The automatic machine runs on standard wall power without requiring a water-coolant system and includes electronic temperature control, injection speed control, cycle delay control, precision sensors, and a touchscreen interface.


The machine uses aluminium moulds that can be produced using standard CNC milling and can


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