Using rapid prototyping tooling for couplings

These couplings went through many revisions of SLA prototypes to confirm the tight tolerance fit. Due to the tight tolerance requirement of the over-molded components, the parts were built on the SLA Viper machine with a high-resolution laser, in .0025" layers. The approved SLA prototypes were used as patterns for rapid prototyping tooling.

Due to expensive production tooling cost and extended lead-times, the customer wanted to prove out the design using rapid prototyping tooling. This option was weighed against making a production tool that would require tool modifications that can take several weeks and cost many thousands of dollars. This over-molded project was completed in three to four weeks, for a fraction of the cost of creating a production tool. Once the parts were proven to work in the prototype tools, the production tools were started and completed with minimal changes.