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Rapid Prototyping - Bridge Tooling, Rapid Tooling.
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Bridge tooling is, as the name implies, a way to bridge the gap between design approval and actual production with hard tools. Due to the fast tool production methods used, this is often referred to as rapid tooling. At this point in the production cycle, the design has been approved by sales and marketing, the functionality checked by engineers, and now you need 200 to 2000 parts in order to establish assembly lines or perhaps to build market interest. There are several methods used to produce bridge tools such as:
- CNC machining of aluminum molds
- Casting of urethane moulds.
- Using rapid prototype methods such as stereolithography or objet printing to produce mould inserts or the mould itself using high melting temperature polymers.
- Plating rapid prototyped insets and moulds with nickel or copper to increase tool life.
- Investment casting of moulds from wax patterns.
- Vacuum moulding the mold cavity around a pre-produced pattern.
- Laser sintering of molds, slides and inserts.
- Incremental forming of thin metal moulds.
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