Rapid tooling, also known as prototype tooling, prototype mold, and soft tooling, enables you to quickly and cheaply get parts. It is distinguished by a short molding cycle, low molding cost, simple process, and easy promotion. Additionally, rapid tooling can fulfill specific functional demands while providing good comprehensive economic benefits. 

Rapid tooling technique is often used to test the design and functionality of a part before it goes into mass production. Please continue reading to explore the basics of rapid tooling, from its definition to its various applications and benefits.

Rapid tooling is a manufacturing process of mold or tools that helps use specialized techniques and equipment to quickly create prototypes and production-grade parts. It is often used to create molds, dies, and other tools used to produce plastic or metal parts. Rapid tooling can create prototypes and production parts for various industries, including automotive, aerospace, medical, and consumer products.

One of the primary advantages of rapid tooling is that it reduces production time and cost. Because rapid tools are quick and easy to replicate, finished tools require less stock. However, the disadvantages are that it is less precise and reduces the product’s lifespan. Rapid tooling is an excellent method for developing small-batch orders in process design, marketing, and product evaluation.

Rapid tooling is temporary molds used in producing prototypes, low-volume parts, or casting resins. Some common materials used for rapid tooling include silicone rubber,  urethane, plaster, and metals.

Rapid tooling enables you to get project parts cheaply and fast. As cheap tooling demands grow, people are looking for more methods to make rapid tools and molds. According to different mold-making methods, rapid tooling can be divided into direct and indirect.

Direct rapid tooling creates actual core and cavity mold inserts. The process’s strength is its capacity to manufacture tools with previously unattainable geometries. An example is the conformal cooling technique. In this technique, the internal cooling channels follow the contour of mold cavities, enhancing the uniformity of heat loss from a mold and reducing cooling durations by roughly 66%.

In short-run production, this form of rapid tooling allows you to construct a mold or tool extremely rapidly and begin making products from it nearly immediately. It is particularly advantageous for short-run manufacturing since the tool does not need to be very sturdy or lasting. This mold may produce up to 5,000 parts, depending on the materials used and the complexity of the design.

Direct tooling entails the following steps:

Step 1: Use Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software to create a model of the tool or mold.

Step 2: Send the file to a machine or printer to make the actual mold or tool used to manufacture prototypes. This can be a subtractive process, in which a CNC machine cuts raw material to make the desired shape, or an additive process, in which a 3D printer constructs the desired shape from scratch.

Step 3: The manufactured tool or mold can be used directly to produce prototypes.

1. Faster manufacturing and shorter lead times (you can make tools or molds in just a few days or weeks)

2. Sometimes requires fewer resources.

3. It involves fewer steps.

4. People can use one mold or tool to make more than one prototype.

5. Extremely flexible, you can quickly make many molds or tools as your design changes.

1. Most of the time, prototypes made using this method are not as strong and durable as those made using the indirect rapid tooling method.

2. Without a master pattern, it may be necessary to construct many tools or molds in different materials, which might result in mistakes or disparities in the tool or mold dimensions.

3. If the tool or mold breaks or you wish to try new material, you must restart the entire process.

4. It might not work for complicated designs or materials that need a durable mold or tool to make intricate details.

5. This could increase the cost of developing a new product, especially if you have to make more molds or tools for each new design iteration.

Indirect rapid tooling utilizes master patterns generated by additive manufacturing to create a mold or die. Several technologies are available, the most prevalent of which is “soft tooling’ techniques. Soft tooling techniques use silicone molds for plastic parts and as sacrificial models for investment casting of metal parts.

Indirect rapid tooling is intended for testing and experimenting.  For instance, indirect rapid tooling is an excellent solution when you already have a detailed design and want to test different materials. This is because it allows you to easily build several test tools and molds from the same master pattern.

Indirect tooling is the second form of rapid tooling. Indirect tooling entails the following steps:

Step 1: Use CAD software to create a model of the master tool or mold.

Step 2: Send the file to a machine or printer to make a master mold or tool called a pattern. This master pattern is often rather durable.

Step 3: Create more molds or tools according to the master pattern. You can fabricate new molds or tools from different materials with distinct properties. The master pattern can be utilized for either hard tooling (tools constructed of tough or sturdy materials) or soft tooling (less robust tools). A single master pattern can make various tools or molds in big or small quantities, which can then be used to create more prototypes.

1. The master pattern is extremely robust and durable and is seldom broken throughout the prototyping process.

2. You will probably only require one master pattern (unless your design changes).

3. Because all different tools and molds are based on the same master pattern, there is less variation between them.

4. It is ideal for experimenting with various materials since you may create tools or molds that work best with a certain material or prototyping process.

5. Can produce either hard or soft tools dependent on the customer’s demands. Soft tools may be utilized for simple designs or cost-effective prototype testing, whereas hard tools are suited for sophisticated designs.

1. Producing time is somewhat longer as compared to direct rapid tooling.

2. It involves an intermediary step, which could lead to higher costs.

3. It may be necessary to use higher-quality materials to create a robust and durable master pattern.

4. This is not always a suitable solution if you anticipate your design will alter dramatically during the prototyping stage.

5. This is not necessarily essential for simple designs that do not require high dimensional precision or accuracy.

Mold Customization

Using rapid tooling can help you quickly create custom molds with any dimension. The molds make parts with different material grades and test their properties and quality, helping you choose the right material before bringing a new product to market.

Faster Time to Market

The product development cycle in conventional machining methods may encompass numerous production processes and technologies. This can add time to each step and make it take longer to get from the design to the real product.

Rapid tools need fewer steps than conventional tools methods. The sooner you finish the prototype and prototyping, the sooner you can finish your designs and give them to your clients.

Reduce the Costs

The longer the product development cycle takes, the higher the cost. Rapid tooling’s speed benefits can save firms money over time.

Less Resource Consumption

Rapid tooling involves extremely low resources for prototyping or production. For example, you may create numerous prototypes with a single tool or mold.

Process Parameter Test

Rapid tooling may also be used in the production phase to test process parameters. For instance, different injection rates and mold temperatures during injection molding can alter the part quality. In this case, rapid tooling can give engineers and designers more measurement control over the final part.

Test Design and Functionality Thoroughly

Rapid tooling allows you to create several prototypes or molds quickly. It also allows you to experiment with new ideas and tweak old ones. This will avert many problems that may develop in future phases of high-volume production.

Soft Tooling: Soft tooling generally uses silicone molds and the urethane casting process. Like rapid tooling, soft tooling is primarily utilized in prototyping, bridge tooling, and low-volume manufacturing. The patterns for urethane casting are frequently made by 3D printing.

Hard Tooling: In injection molding, hard tooling is a synonym for metal tooling. Rapid tooling processes can make hard tooling mostly from aluminum. Hard tooling is more durable and capable of handling huge production volumes. However, it costs more than soft or rapid tooling techniques, making it better suited to mass production.

Below are the Differences between Soft tooling and hard tooling:

Durability: Hard tooling is made of durable materials such as steel or aluminum, and is designed to withstand high levels of stress and repeated use. Soft tooling, on the other hand, is made of more flexible materials such as foam, rubber, or other suitable compounds, and is intended for short-term use.

Cost: Hard tooling is typically more expensive than soft tooling, as it requires the use of expensive materials and complex machining processes. Soft tooling is often a more cost-effective alternative, as it can be produced quickly and inexpensively, making it ideal for prototyping and low-volume production runs.

● Creation of mold – both metallic and non-metallic molds may be created using rapid tooling.

● Creation of casting shapes and cores – SLS application is the most recent technology created in the field of sand casting shapes and cores.

● Other applications of rapid tooling include the fabrication of electrodes for EDM, marking stamps, hybrid patterns for casting, and splintering tools.