Prototypes

Prototypes allow to verify and test the design for fit and function and detect costly errors before it becomes very time consuming and expensive to ‘fix it’ (when it is possible to fix it).

Many customers decide to skip this step of  product development and  in some instances it might be Ok to do so.

On the other hand whenever the final product will have to meet tight tolerances, or will be part of assemblies where several features will have to fit together or if there is little experience on the best way to mold the part , building a rapid prototype or a prototype mold could be a life saver.

At Accurate Plastics & Mold Co. we can help with two forms of prototypes:

• RAPID PROTOTYPES
• PROTOTYPE MOLDS

Rapid prototypes can be manufactured in a variety of ways, some of which are listed below:

• MACHINING FROM SOLID ; traditional machining of solid blocks of plastics, usually of the same material of the final products. Depending on the geometry of the parts it may not always be feasible or economical to use this technique.
• ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, this can be done with several different technologies, such as:
  • SLA (Stereolitography)
  • SLS (Selective Laser Sintering)
  • FDM ( Fuse Deposition Modeling)
   

A rapid prototype will explain design and intent better then any drawing or description, whether you are talking with an engineer that has a good technical background or with somebody that has no manufacturing knowledge, the prototype will simplify the communication process.  Whether it is the first time a product is made or there are questions about the functionality of some of the product features, rapid prototyping could help saving great deals of time and money. Prototypes remove the need for guesswork.

Prototype molds are used to make samples of a new product for its evaluation or to test the mold design before an expensive multicavity production mold is built. Molded samples will have the exact look and feel as the final product and can be subjected  to the expected stresses , wear and environment tests. This may not be always possible with a rapid prototype since the physical properties of the rapid prototype will not be the same as those of the final product.

Because on a prototype mold what count is just the product and not the tool life or the productivity, such a tool can be built cheaper by taking some shortcuts: cheaper materials can be selected for the mold, wider tolerances can be specified for the tool components and generally lesser quality component will be used. The mold will not need to run in fully automatic and some expensive mechanisms can be left out of it making for a more economical tool.

              Learn More About:
Design for injection molding      Molds for Injection Molding      Injection Molding