Rapid Prototyping is One of the Best Option for Small Batch Customization

What is rapid prototyping?

Rapid prototyping is a fast and straight manufacturing of single parts of the technology, it can be in any case without tools, molds and tooling tooling, quickly and directly to achieve the production of single parts.

Rapid prototyping system is considered to be a major breakthrough in the field of manufacturing technology in recent years, and its impact on the manufacturing industry can be comparable to the emergence of numerical control technology.

Rapid prototyping system is like a "three-dimensional printer", integrating mechanical engineering, CAD, numerical control technology, laser technology and material science technology, can automatically, directly, quickly and accurately materialize design ideas into functional prototypes or directly manufactured parts, so that product design can be quickly evaluated, modified and functional tests. Effectively shorten the product development cycle.

Rapid tooling manufacturing technology, rapid precision casting technology and rapid metal powder sintering technology developed on the basis of Rp system can realize the rapid finished parts.

Characteristics and advantages of applying rapid prototyping technology

The advantages of rapid prototyping technology are obvious, it can directly accept product design (CAD) data and quickly produce samples, molds or models of new products without preparing any molds, tools and fixtures. Therefore, promotion and application can greatly shorten the development cycle of new products, reduce development costs, and improve development quality. From the traditional "removal method" to today's "growth method", from "mold manufacturing" to "moldless manufacturing", it has revolutionary significance to the manufacturing industry. AI illustration combined with traditional methods can realize rapid casting, rapid mold manufacturing, small batch parts production and other functions, injecting new vitality into traditional manufacturing methods.

- Greatly shorten the development cycle of new products and ensure the time to market for new products.

- Makes the direct manufacturing of complex models possible and improves the ability to manufacture complex parts.

- Can detect product design errors in a timely manner, so that errors can be found and changed early to avoid a large amount of losses caused by changes in subsequent processes.

and significantly improve the first-time success rate of new product launches.

- Support the implementation of synchronous (parallel) projects.

- The production process is digitalized and directly related to the CAD model. Parts can be large or small, what you see is what you get, and can be                modified and manufactured at any time.

- Save a lot of mold opening costs and exponentially reduce new product development costs.

- The product manufacturing process is almost independent of the complexity of the part.

- The unit price of the product is almost independent of the batch size, which is especially suitable for the development of new products and the production    of single small batch parts.

- Using non-contact processing, there are no problems such as tool replacement and wear, and it can be unattended.

- No cutting, noise and vibration, etc., which is beneficial to environmental protection.

The application of rapid prototyping is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

- Design verification and functional verification in the process of new product development. RP technology can quickly transform the CAD model of product design into a physical object model, which can easily verify the rationality, assemblability and aesthetics of the design idea and product structure of the designer, and find the problems in the design can be modified in time. If the traditional method is used, drawing, process design, tooling mold manufacturing and other links need to be completed, the cycle is long and the cost is high. If the design is not verified and put into production directly, once there is a design error, it will cause great losses.

- Manufacturability, assemblability inspection and supply inquiry, market promotion, testing and design of complex systems with limited space, such as the manufacturability and assemblability of automobiles, satellites, and missiles with RP method, will greatly reduce the difficulty of design and manufacturing of such systems. For complex parts that are difficult to determine, RP technology can be used for trial production to determine the best reasonable process. In addition, the RP prototype is also an effective means of communication in all aspects of the product from design to commercialization. For example, to provide customers with product samples, marketing, etc., rapid prototyping technology has become a technical approach to parallel engineering and agile manufacturing.

- Direct production of single pieces, small batches and special complex parts. For the parts of polymer materials, high strength engineering plastics can be used for direct rapid prototyping to meet the requirements of use; For complex metal parts, it can be obtained by rapid casting or direct metal part forming. This application has special significance for the aviation, aerospace and defense industry.

- Rapid mold manufacturing. Through various conversion technologies, the RP prototype is converted into a variety of rapid molds, such as low melting point alloy molds, silicone molds, metal cold spray molds, ceramic molds, etc., for small and medium-sized batch parts production, to meet the development trend of rapid product replacement and smaller and smaller batches. The field of rapid prototyping applications includes almost all industries in the field of manufacturing, and has also been more and more widely used in medical, human engineering, cultural relics protection and other industries.