The mold industry is a very large-scale
industry, which is related to all fields of the manufacturing industry. The
components of numerous products are made by molding (injection, blow molding, and silica gel) or by casting (investment, sanding, and spinning). No matter
what applies, the mold can improve efficiency and profit while ensuring
quality. CNC is the most commonly used in mold manufacturing, but it is very
expensive and time-consuming. So many mold manufacturing enterprises are also
looking for more effective alternative ways. It has become an attractive method
to make molds through additive manufacturing (AM). Many molds are generally
produced in small batch and have complex shapes, so they are very suitable for
3D printers.
Nowadays, 3D printing and various printing
materials (plastic, rubber, composite materials, metal, wax, sand) have brought
great convenience to many industries, such as automobile, aerospace, medical
and so on. Many enterprises have a 3D printer in their supply chain, including
mold manufacturing.
The following aspects of mold manufacturing
need 3D printing technology:
1. Molding (blow molding, LSR, RTV, EPS,
injection molding, pulp mold, soluble mold core, FRP mold, etc.) mold
(investment mold, sand mold, spinning, etc.) ;
2. Forming (thermoforming, metal
hydroforming, etc.) ;
3. Machining, assembly, and inspection
(fixed fixture, mobile fixture, modular fixture, etc.) ;
There are many advantages to make a mold with 3D printing:
1) Shorten the mold production cycle
3D printing mold shortens the whole product development cycle and drives innovation. In the past, due to investing a lot of money to manufacture new molds, companies may choose to postpone or abandon the design and update of products. By reducing the production time of the mold, and making the existing design tools can be updated quickly, 3D printing satisfies enterprises to withstand mold replacement and promotion more frequently. It can make the mold design cycle keep up with the product design cycle.
2) Manufacturing cost reduction
If the cost of metal 3D printing is higher
than that of traditional metal manufacture, the cost reduction is easier to
achieve in the field of plastic products. In addition, metal 3D printing molds
have economic advantages in the production of small and discontinuous end
products (because the fixed cost of these products is difficult to amortize),
or more economic advantages for some specific geometry (specially optimized for
3D printing). Especially when the materials used are very expensive, and the
traditional mold manufacturing leads to a high scrap rate, 3D printing has a
cost advantage.
3) Add more functionality to the end
product
In general, the special metallurgical way
of 3D printing can improve the microstructure of the metal and produce completely
dense of printing parts, which have the same mechanical and physical properties than those of forged or cast materials (depending on heat treatment and test
direction). Additive manufacturing brings engineers unlimited choices to
improve mold design. When the target assembly is composed of several
subassemblies, 3D printing has the ability to integrate the design and reduce
the number of components, which simplifies the assembly process of product and
reduces tolerances.
If it is manufactured with traditional
technology, the channel guiding the cooling material is usually straight. And
it will be an uneven cooling effect in the molded parts. However, 3D printing can
realize the cooling channel of any shape, so as to ensure the even cooling,
which is more optimized, realizing higher quality parts and lower scrap rate.
4) Optimize tools for promoting performance
3D printing can satisfy the needs that can
not be met in the manufacturing process so that more mobile and fixed clamps
can be invested in the manufacturing process. Traditionally, because of the
considerable cost and effort required to redesign and manufacture them, the
design of tools and corresponding devices always takes a long time. With the
application of 3D printing technology, enterprises can renovate any tool at any
time, not only those tools that have been scrapped and do not meet the requirements.
5) Customized mold can help to realize
customization of products
The ability to shorten the production
cycle, manufacture more complex geometry and reduce the final manufacturing
cost enables enterprises to manufacture a large number of personalized tools to
support the manufacturing of customized parts. 3D printing mold is very
conducive to customized products, such as medical equipment and medical
industry. It can provide surgeons with personalized 3D printing devices, such
as surgical guides and tools, so that they can improve the operation effect and
reduce operation time.
We all believe that the 3D printer will be
one of the important technologies in molding manufacturing in the future. And
we also recommend two printers(CR-10 and CR-5 pro) for mold manufacturing.
Creality provides one-stop molding 3D
printer solution, which includes machine customizing, model design, and
printing training. If you are an engineer, or factory who wants to try the
future molding method, Creality is here to help you. Contact us for your
exclusive solution today!