Digital Tooling processes 200+ parts.
Groups like Catalysis Additive Tooling specialise in creating injection moulded prototype parts that allow designers and engineers to run tests on a product and gather customer feedback before going into full scale production, de-risking investment in production tooling costs. Because of this need, it is invaluable for their customers to prototype their parts in their end-use plastic as soon as possible.
Traditionally, injection mould tools made for prototyping are produced by machining a large block of aluminium, which can cost thousands of dollars and is subject to long lead times, often upwards of six weeks. Boston-based composite 3D printing company Fortify has created a digital tooling process that gave Catalysis Additive Tooling the ability to create quick-turn injection mould tools at a fraction of the cost and time.
Using fibre-reinforced systems and materials, the tools are said to function better than traditional 3D printed injection mould tools and eliminate the need to wait weeks for an aluminium tool.
“We are currently focused on short run injection mould tooling - an application that has been attempted for years with limited success and adoption with other 3D print technologies,” Josh Martin, CEO and Co- Founder at Fortify, explained. “The primary reasons for this come down to a lack of performance of available polymer materials or challenging workflows with metals. Fortify Digital Tooling is different because we are reinforcing high-temperature thermoset systems with specialised ceramics to improve strength, stiffness, wear resistance and performance at temperature. When we couple this material system with DLP technology, we are able to achieve a surface finish that does not need secondary machining. So the complete package [offers] both higher performance and less processing. We are excited to explore other tooling applications where we can add value.”
Accelerating time-to-market when launching a new product is invaluable in enabling R&D teams to stay competitive. The need to produce agile prototypes faster and accurately evaluate the geometry, design, performance and feel of plastic injection moulded parts is necessary before creation of the final mould. However, the cost and lead time associated with machining aluminium soft tooling can make many iterations impractical for most organisations.
Parts for Catalysis Additive Tooling.
Commenting on the growing use of AM as an alternative solution, Martin said:
“I believe the growing use [in] tooling and moulding is due to the buying market maturing and the awareness of additive manufacturing increasing. Many companies are in the early phases of adopting additive manufacturing. Additive tooling wins are much lower risk than full adoption of additive manufacturing. Tooling in many ways is a perfect “gateway” application to customers’ transition to the new technology platforms of AM.”
The Fortify Digital Tooling material is the first launched by Fortify and believed to be the industry’s first microparticle filled DLP/SLA resin. By reinforcing this material with microparticle-sized engineering-grade ceramics, the company is able to produce additively manufactured tools that are stronger, stiffer, exhibit a higher heat deflection temperature, and an increased wear resistance compared to other 3D printed tooling. These are crucial metrics to maximise when designing a 3D printed tool due to the repeated exposure to high temperature polymers at high pressures.
In one case, this led to a 35% reduction in cost compared to CNC machining and a 3 to 5 day lead time for over 200 parts produced using a tool measuring 100 x 95 x 150 mm. According to Fortify data, the same tool produced on a laser sintering system would have cost more than three times the amount for the same number of parts, while polymer material jetting would have been slightly cheaper but would only have provided 25 parts.
By reinforcing the resin with engineering-grade ceramic microparticles, Fortify achieved optimum mechanics compared to other additive techniques, which suggests that Digital Tooling can offer comparable performance to aluminium soft tooling with shorter lead times and lower costs.
