3D Printing
Rapid tooling is the result of combining Rapid Prototyping techniques with conventional tooling practices to product parts of a functional nature from electronic CAD data in less time and at a lower cost relative to traditional machining methods.
The market of nowadays is changing so fast that the life of the product is getting shorter and shorter. People are expecting more fashionable and higher quality products of fast delivery but not necessarily long lasting.In other words, the manufacturers need to shorten the product development cycle and at the same time reduce the tooling cost due to the short product life. conventional tooling method takes too much time and too costly. In order to remain the cutting edge competitive power, there is an urgent need for the manufacturers to exploit the Rapid Tooling Technology.
Advantages of Rapid Tooling:
A. Shorten the Tooling Lead time
Normal lead time is shortened from months to a few days or weeks.
B. Low Cost
Cost is reduced a lot, so that real trials are affordable.
C. Functional Test of Parts in Early Design Make Possible
Due to short tooling lead time and low cost in using RT, many engineers prefer to produce parts for functional test in the early design stage. As a result, many design faults are debugged before production, so many design disasters are avoided.
D. Direct Transfer of CAD Data
Many careless human mistakes due to misinterpretation of drawings can be avoided. It is because the original CAD model is used all through the RP process and then down to RT process.
Silicone Mold And Vacuum Casting
RTV Silicone rubber mold can be produced from the master made by the RP. After finished the SLA and CNC sample, be sanded and polished to the surface finished required of the part, than in turn to make the rapid silicone mold.
Its application is mainly to produce plastics in small batch by vacuum casting method. The materials normally used are PU Epoxy. The batch size is from several pieces to over humrdreds.
Material property: ABS-like, Polythylene-like, Clear Acrylic-like, High temperature 150 degree, High strength PU, Different rubber shore from 25A to 80A with different color.
Thermoforming Molding
It is a molding process that involves heating a sheet of plastic to a temperature that is workable and placing the sheet over the top of a mold, then using a vacuum to generate pressure to suck the molten sheet of plastic down across the mold to generate the formed part. At Complete Prototype Services, we have been able to use this process to provide another alternative to injection molding. Some of the advantages of using Vacuum Forming are the low tooling costs to attain workable parts, ability to produce large volumes of parts without costly machinery and tooling, and relative ease for engineering changes to the part. Vacuum Form molds can be made from multiple materials ranging from plastic to aluminum.
The size: W1800mm ,L 1200mm, H500mm.
The material: ABS, PC，Clear PC, PP etc.
The material thickness is from:2mm to 8mm.
The lifecycle time of mold is over 300000pcs.
Usually the application is for the large housing and simple geometries part by this process.
RIM
RIM, is an alternative process to injection molding that allows for similar characteristics of injection molded parts. In the RIM process, two liquids are mixed together while being injected into a mold, resulting in a chemical reaction.
This chemical reaction hardens the liquids, forming a polyurethane part. There are several advantages to using this injection molding alternative. RIM molding allows for large parts, such as fascias or bumpers, to be built for a low cost in tooling. Also, because of the minimal shrinkage of material, the RIM process allows for wall thickness to change throughout the part, allowing for more options in part design.
Polyurethane structural form is ideal for this application. Easily mold thin and thick part geometries without sink marks or warp.
The large housing automotive parts or medical devices is suitable for this process.
