considering buying my first injection molding machine and the learning curve is huge

So I run a small design studio and recently I started thinking about producing some of our own plastic components instead of purchasing everything.

Most of our projects involve small enclosures and customized brackets for electronics, so injection molding seemed like the logical manufacturing method if we ever wanted to scale up.

The problem is I’m just realizing how complicated the equipment side of things actually is.

A used plastic injection molding machine recently came up for sale from a factory that wants to shut down nearby. The price was reasonable, but the machine definitely needs maintenance before it could run perfectly well.

Beyond the machine itself there’s tooling, power requirements, cooling systems, and workspace setup to consider.

I started researching mold manufacturing costs and that’s where things became really confusing for me. Local tooling is very high for small production runs like mine..

That's what pushed me toward looking at international suppliers. When you compare options online you quickly see similar molds and equipment appearing across different wholesale platforms like eBay , Amazon, Alibaba and industry marketplaces used by entrepreneurs.

The price differences between local and overseas tooling are very massive.

What I’m struggling to understand is whether those savings come with major quality tradeoffs or if this is just how many small manufacturing businesses started out.

If anyone here has experience setting up a small molding operation, I’d really appreciate hearing how you approached those early equipment decisions like this.