Textured Surface Finish Injection Molding Quote Checklist: SPI Grade and Gate Placement

A textured finish that looks right on a sample chip can still show flow lines, gate blush or drag marks on the actual part if draft angle and gate placement were not planned around the texture. This checklist lists what to send before a textured-finish tooling quote.

SPI/VDI grade and cosmetic expectation

Texture grade should be confirmed against a physical reference, since the same grade name can look different depending on resin and molding conditions.

• Target SPI or VDI texture grade.
• Reference sample or chip for comparison.
• Acceptable defect tolerance on textured faces.

Draft angle allowance for clean ejection

Deeper textures need more draft than smooth surfaces to release cleanly, and skipping this review is a common cause of drag marks.

• Minimum draft angle for the chosen texture depth.
• Drag mark risk on deep texture without added draft.
• Ejector pin placement relative to textured zones.

Gate placement and flow marks

Gate location relative to the cosmetic face determines whether flow lines or gate blush show up on the textured surface after molding.

• Gate location relative to the primary cosmetic face.
• Flow line and gate blush risk on textured surfaces.
• Weld line location if multiple gates are needed.