Go beyond prototyping
Using Stratasys 3D Printers the TriMech Services team you can create an injection, blow, or silicone molds from your 3D CAD model within a few hours, compared to days with traditional methods.
3D Printed production molds can be used to evaluate mold and part designs or produce low volumes of end use parts.
We 3D print your production molds
- 3D Printers from Stratasys® give TriMech the exclusive ability to build functional injection, blow or silicone molds, quickly and easily at a fraction of the cost of a steel or aluminum mold.
- These precision prototypes will give you the ability to create realistic, finished-product examples that can then be used to gather true-to-life, performance data.
Validate your mold designs
The use of 3D printed molds allows manufacturers the ability to take functional testing to a new level
Short Production Time
Create your injection, blow, or silicone mold quickly from 3D CAD files with a greatly reduced initial cost.
Complex geometries, thin walls, and fine details can easily be programmed into the mold design. What’s more, these molds cost no more to make than a simpler mold design.
Accurate Mold Creation
A mold printed with Digital ABS material can be precisely built in 30 micron layers, with accuracy as high as 0.1 mm.
These production features create a smooth surface finish so post-processing is not needed in most cases.
Better than a Prototype Part
3D printed molds are not intended to be replacements for soft or hard tools used in mid- and high volume production.
Rather, they are intended to fill the gap between a soft tool mold and 3D printed prototype.
Client Benefits
Typically costing 50% to 70% less than an aluminum tool, 3D printed molds offer the advantages of metal molds
Silicone Rubber Molds
Achieving success in today’s increasingly competitive mold-making industry requires fast, accurate, and cost-effective mold design.
Liquid silicone rubber (LSR) is a widely used material due to its versatility and unique properties. It is non reactive, stable and resistant to extreme environments and temperatures. Mass production of LSR parts uses specialized injection molding machines that meter, mix and inject LSR into a heated mold. Due to the time and expense of this process, low-volume production and prototyping is often done with manual casting methods that use molds made of modeling board, RTV rubber or soft metal.
However, although they are easier, faster and cheaper to produce, prototype molds have their own challenges. Making LSR parts with RTV molds is a multistage process requiring time and labor to make the patterns and molds. Care is also needed to ensure the soft rubber RTV mold does not deform or stick to LSR parts. Machined molds overcome these challenges, but they can be much more expensive, time-consuming and labor intensive than RTV molds. Additionally, machining may have limitations with respect to the complexity of a part’s design.
PolyJet™ 3D printing provides an alternative method for producing LSR molds with dramatic time and cost savings. Using PolyJet 3D Printed molds, LSR parts can be produced in just one or two days. After designing the mold in CAD, it is printed, often overnight, without any operator attendance or added time for complex designs. PolyJet molds preserve fine details and deliver smooth surface finishes. With only a few minutes of labor for cleaning and assembly, a PolyJet mold is ready to make silicone rubber parts.
