Avante Technology Prints Injection Molding Tooling on Desktop Printer

Avante Technology has demonstrated the ability to print functioning injection molding tools using its FilaOne™ GRAY high performance composite filament.

The photo below shows the two part mold with ASTM test bars that were injection molded on a lab injection molding machine using this 3D printed mold.

The test bars were molded in three commonly used thermoplastics (from left to right) ABS, Polyethylene and Polypropylene.

Weighing only 56 grams, the mold was able to handle the heat(up to 440º F) and pressure of the injection molding process over more than 15 injection cycles without noticeable wear in the mold cavity.

“We designed the tools in one day, printed them in less than a day and were able to injection mold quality multiple parts in less a day” said Robert Zollo, President of Avante Technology.

“We have demonstrated that it is feasible to print simple, short run injection molding tooling on a desktop FDM printer. With a material cost for this mold of less than US $25.00, this advanced composite can save manufacturers thousands of dollars in producing small numbers of working prototypes and short run product parts.”

FilaOne™ GRAY advanced composite can also save engineers weeks compared with conventional soft tooling production cycles, and enable users to fine tune the tool design through rapid printing of revised molds in house at minimal additional cost.

The company developed its own proprietary, high resolution desktop printer to conduct the mold printing experiment, but Zollo believes it is possible to print these tools on well calibrated desktop printers from the top tier brand suppliers, including German RepRap, Ultimaker, LeapFrog, Zortrax and Roboze.

“We plan to continue to test a range of materials on a number of part designs with the goal of achieving a useful life of 100 cycles for our printed molds” said Zollo. “We believe this will be achievable before the end of this year.”