3D printing brings "hi" and "worry" to the mold industry

The mold industry is one of the largest industries, and it has a relationship with all areas of manufacturing. In modern society, manufacturing and molds are highly dependent, and parts of countless products are manufactured by molding (injection, blow molding, and silica gel) or by molding (molding, sanding, and spinning). Regardless of the application, manufacturing molds can improve quality and profit while ensuring quality.

CNC machining is the most common technique used in the manufacture of molds. Although it provides highly reliable results, it is also very expensive and time consuming. So many mold manufacturers are also looking for more effective alternatives. Making molds from additive layers has become a more attractive method, especially since molds are generally produced in small batches and are more complex in shape, making them ideal for 3D printing.

At present, 3D printing is widely used in the fields of model making, hand board and mold making. Although it is one of the cutting-edge technologies of this century, its real difficulties cannot be underestimated. According to industry analysis, 3D printing currently has the same problems in many industries: First, the cost of 3D printing is still relatively high; secondly, at the same price level, 3D printing is much less accurate than traditional models. The impact will only form when 3D printing matures and becomes popular. In addition to the above two major disadvantages, 3D printed materials can not achieve the strength, toughness and other properties of other materials - even injection molding. At present, there are still many limitations in terms of application.

So what benefits can mold manufacturing get from 3D printing technology?

In fact, the following aspects of mold manufacturing are able to use 3D printing technology:

(1) Forming (blow molding, LSR, RTV, EPS, injection molding, pulp mold, soluble core, FRP mold, etc.)

(2) Mold (melting mold, sand mold, spinning, etc...)

(3) Forming (thermoforming, metal hydroforming, etc...)

(4) Machining, assembly and inspection (fixed fixtures, mobile fixtures, modular fixtures, etc...)

(5) Robot end effector (gripper)

There are many advantages to making a mold with 3D printing:

1) Shorter mold production cycle

3D printing molds shorten the entire product development cycle and become the source of drive innovation. In the past, companies sometimes chose to postpone or abandon product design updates due to the need to invest large amounts of money in manufacturing new molds. By reducing mold preparation time and enabling existing design tools to be quickly updated, 3D printing enables companies to withstand more frequent replacement and improvement of molds. It enables the mold design cycle to keep pace with the product design cycle.

In addition, some companies have purchased 3D printing equipment to manufacture molds, which further speeds up product development and improves flexibility/adaptation. Strategically, it enhances the ability of supply chain defenses to extend deadlines and develop stagnation risks, such as obtaining inappropriate molds from suppliers.

2) Reduced manufacturing costs

If the cost of current metal 3D printing is higher than the cost of traditional metal manufacturing processes, the cost reduction is easier to achieve in the field of plastic products.

Metal 3D printed dies have economic advantages in the production of small, discontinuous series of end products (because the fixed costs of these products are difficult to amortize), or for specific geometries (optimized for 3D printing) More economic advantages. Especially when the materials used are very expensive, and the traditional mold manufacturing leads to a high material scrap rate, 3D printing has a cost advantage.

In addition, the ability of 3D printing to produce precision molds in a matter of hours can have a positive impact on manufacturing processes and profits. Especially when production downtime and / or mold inventory is very expensive.

(Editor)