Video: Additive Manufacturing Offers a Tooling Alternative
3D printing can offer a cost-effective alternative to conventionally produced tooling for those processes that depend on it.
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Many manufacturing processes depend on tooling, but procuring molds, forms, cores and other tools is a time-consuming and costly step. Additive manufacturing offers a more direct path to tooling. Learn more in the video above and find our recent reporting on 3D printed tooling in this collection.
Transcript
So many manufacturing processes depend on tooling — injection molding, casting, thermoforming — but getting the tooling is often the most time-consuming and costly part of the process.
Additive manufacturing offers an alternative. 3D printing can allow us to make tools faster and more flexibly. You can go through multiple design iterations in the same amount of time that it would take to have one tool manufactured conventionally.
3D printing also makes it easier to add customization or to incorporate innovative features like conformal cooling channels.
3D printed tools can perform better in operation, and they can also help us make better parts.
3D Printed Tooling
3D printing makes it possible to manufacture molds, layup forms, jigs, fixtures, check gages, workholding, robot end effectors, hand tools and more. 3D printed tools can be manufactured at low cost for specific users and applications and changed as needed. Tools that are no longer needed can be discarded but stored as digital inventory for the next time that tool might be required. Stories about 3D printed tooling
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