Cases
From 3D design of a part to finished part in just 4 days… that’s rapid manufacturing!
On the 20th of May about 20 companies gathered in Milan, Italy to find out how to make moulds for pre-series in a very short time frame. Designing and producing a tool and its injection moulding series in just 4 days... the participants of the "Rapid Tooling diretto" (Direct Rapid Tooling) seminar discovered that this isn't a fantasy or still in the future. They all witnessed that it’s possible to get from a 3D design of a part to the finished part, in the final material, in just a few days.
Seminar on the latest technologies in RP&M
The seminar was hosted by APRI, the Italian Rapid Prototyping Association, and UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, the Association of Italian Manufacturers of Machine Tools, Robots, Automation Systems and ancillary products. Both associations focus on promoting and supporting the Rapid Prototyping and Tooling industries respectively.
They accomplish this by constantly updating the services they supply to meet the requirements of the companies that compete in these markets. With demands for ever-shortening lead-times increasing the need for true “rapid” manufacturing, these Italian associations joined hands to inform their members about the latest technologies in rapid manufacturing.
Real life example
Materialise, EOS (a global manufacturer of RP&M systems), MCP Italy (a provider of injection moulding machines, as well as other products) and Trumpf (one of the world's leading companies in production technology) collaborated in this seminar to demonstrate to the attendees how they could speed up tool design, production and the injection moulding process. A real life example - the front of a mobile phone1 - was used to illustrate various techniques. Using Magics Tooling Expert software, Materialise analysed the part in real time. Its tool was also designed in real time with Magics Tooling software. Core and cavity, cooling channels, slider and alignment pins were created in 1 hour. Next, EOS presented their metal sintering machines and revealed that production and finishing of the metal sintered mould for this mobile phone front took them only 17.5 hours (15.5 hours of which was overnight build time). They also provided other detailed data about the costs and accuracy of actual mould construction. MCP Italy completed the life example by showing the seminar participants the injection moulded parts, produced in the final material with one of their small injection machines. Finally, Trumpf explained how to repair damaged moulds with their laser technology.
Fastest available technique
Reaction was very positive; many participants were surprised by how fast and easy to use the presented techniques were. The entire process from tool design to final injection moulded product took only four days, which is significantly faster than any other available technique.
