What are the Applications of Rapid Tooling?
With the advanced manufacturing technology offered by rapid tooling today, manufacturers are preferring this rapid manufacturing process to produce product samples, molds, and final products in the most efficient way. Thus, there’s a wide range of applications of rapid tooling that spans hundreds of industrial sectors, especially those that use injection molding and die casting production techniques.
Here are the common applications of rapid tooling:
- Tooling or Mold Creation for Injection Molding
The most common application of rapid tooling is for the tooling or mold creation for injection molding process. Injection molding requires you to create tools or molds that contain the cavity or hollow shape of the final products you would like to make. With conventional tooling methods, the molds for injection molding might take weeks to complete, whereas with rapid tooling, it will only take around 24 hours to complete.
So, rapid tooling is one of the best rapid manufacturing techniques to help boost your injection molding production efficiency. The creation of mold or tooling for injection molding is applicable for a wide range of industries, no matter the injection-molded products you are trying to create.
- Die Casting Core Creation
In die casting, rapid tooling is also useful for you to create die casting molds or dies, which contain the shape of the product you would like to make. Furthermore, you can use rapid tooling to create the cores for the die casting process. These cores can be used to create hollow shapes or cavities that follow the blueprint design of the final products.
With rapid tooling, creating multiple metal die casting cores is possible, and the technology allows you to get this process done in a single production cycle. You just need to determine the blueprint design of the die casting cores and create as many variations as you need for your die casting process. It is applicable in industries where die casting is needed in their production.
- Prototyping or Creating Sample Products
Rapid tooling is also common for creating prototypes or sample products in various industries. Prototyping or creating product samples is a critical step in manufacturing, which can help businesses or brands to decide whether they can release the product to the public or not. With prototyping, manufacturers can check every feature of their products before producing the final version of the product in mass production.
Rapid tooling is an efficient prototyping method because it can help manufacturers create multiple product samples at the same time, each with their own variations. So, performing a test for each product sample and fixing the issues inherent in them will be even easier to do with the rapid tooling technique.
- Low-Volume Parts Production
Aside from creating molds and prototypes, rapid tooling is also a process best used for running low-volume parts production. Yes, you can use rapid tooling to create final products that are ready to market and distribute to your customers. However, the best application for rapid tooling is in low-volume production, because of the technology used in it and the characteristics of the process itself.
The low-volume production with rapid tooling allows you to produce final products or items in the most efficient way, while reducing the overall production costs. When compared to the traditional production methods, rapid tooling excels at low-volume production because of its time and cost efficiency. So, manufacturers can get their final products ready at the fastest possible time, following their tight deadlines.
- Product Quality Testing
Product quality testing is an important aspect of any manufacturing production, allowing you to inspect and check for the overall quality of the product you are manufacturing. Inspecting the product quality is important before releasing them to the public to ensure they pass your quality standards. There is nothing worse than releasing the products that haven’t passed the quality standards, only to make the customers feel dissatisfied and disappointed with the product.
Rapid tooling, in this case, can help you perform the best quality testing procedure for all the products that you are manufacturing. With a fast and efficient production process, checking the quality of each product will become much easier to do. Also, fixing any potential issues and producing the new version of the products will become a breeze, thanks to the advanced manufacturing process of rapid tooling.
- Custom On-demand Production
Another best application for rapid tooling is the custom on-demand production. Nowadays, businesses or brands don’t request manufacturers to make their final products in a large volume, unless they are big global brands. Instead, most brands nowadays will request the manufacturers to make custom on-demand products for them, at the amount best suited to their customer’s demands.
With custom on-demand production, companies or brands can save a lot of money on their production process, without having to worry about keeping their product inventory in stock. They don’t need to produce their items in a big surplus, but instead, they will request the custom on-demand production whenever there is a new demand from customers. Rapid tooling is the best manufacturing technology to fulfill the custom on-demand product from various brands around the globe.
Conclusion
Rapid tooling applications are available in various industries, spanning from automotive to medical industries, and the use of this technology has been common in today’s manufacturing processes. When compared to the traditional tooling process, which can take weeks and costs tens of thousands of dollars per mold, businesses have favored rapid tooling more to create the molds or dies they need to use for injection molding and die casting.
Rapid tooling can also ease the process of quality testing, meaning that with this production method, you can keep the quality of your final products at the best level.
TEAM Rapid provides the wide range of rapid manufacturing services you can use to complete your manufacturing projects. You can contact us today to receive the best quote for your project, as well as the relevant information about your project, such as the expected completion time, expected costs, recommended materials, and more.
