What Is Rapid Tooling?

What Is Rapid Tooling?

Rapid tooling is using a rapid prototype, either indirectly or directly, as a tooling pattern for creating a mold. Rapid tooling techniques enables you to have molds that supply prototype parts with the correct material at a substantially reduced cost in a fraction of the time it takes to produce parts from production tooling processes. The greater the complexity of the part, the greater the benefits of cost and time.

Rapid tooling starts with either an SLS or an SLA (finished to level 4) model of your part. The model is used to design the mold, taking into account the following considerations:

Optimum molding angle and parting line for the part

Size of the mold

Determination if metal retainer or "chase" is required

Incorporation of "locks" to prevent shifting of core and cavity

Determination of the size and location of spruem runners, and gates

Specification of the ejection required, if any

Determination of the size, number, and location of water lines for temperature control, if required

The efficiency and number of parts that can be produced from composite tools is limited by the size and complexity of the parts combined with the strength and heat resistance of composite materials available, in some cases up to 3000 parts have been made.

The following table shows the cost, tool production time, and tool life span that you can expect from each of the three types of rapid tooling we offer.

Attribute	Silicone Rubber Tooling	Composite Tooling	CNC Aluminum Tooling	P20 Steel Tooling
Relative Cost	Cheapest	More Expensive	Even More Expensive	Most Expensive
Time To Make Tool	7-10 days	~3 weeks	~4 weeks	~5 - 6 weeks
# Parts per Tool	~40 parts	~100s of parts	~1,000s parts	~100,000s parts

Click on the any of the following to learn more about the rapid tooling processes we offer:

Rapid Tooling Applications Stories