It's not hard for tooling costs to devour 40% of a development budget. And once constructed, molds can make only one product. And when production finishes, molds usually collect dust on warehouse shelves for years. A few recent ideas, however, promise to turn these traditions on their head. For instance, a laminate mold can chop up to 10% off traditional tooling lead times. And when put into production, its conformal and flood-cooling channels help shave even more time off manufacturing cycles. Another technique aimed at forming large aerospace and marine parts eliminates a lot of roughing. It also cuts up to 90% off the time usually needed for low-temperature molds. When this tool is no longer needed, its surface can be adjusted and cut again for new parts.
展开▼
