Westec Gracon Case Study - Mantle 3D - The only 3D printer built for tooling

CASE STUDY

5 DAYS FROM DESIGN TO H13 INSERTS

WESTEC PLASTICS ENABLES GRACON MANUFACTURING TO ACCELERATE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT BY RAPIDLY 3D PRINTING H13 INJECTION MOLD INSERTS

HIGHLIGHTS

Westec Plastics worked with Gracon Manufacturing to use Mantle’s metal 3D printing technology to rapidly 3D print a set of H13 tool steel mold inserts

Insert lead time reduced from 3 weeks to 5 days

Only 2 hours of active labor were required from the Westec Plastics team

Gracon Manufacturing sought out Westec Plastics for their Mantle machine, exposing Westec to a new customer

The inserts incorporated conformal cooling channels to reduce cycle times and improve part quality

ABOUT WESTEC

Westec Plastics provides a range of custom plastic injection molded parts primarily to the medical, consumer, and government industries. Westec’s headquarters features 23 presses ranging in size from 39 to 610 tons, an extensive range of secondary operations, and a full in-house tool room. With over five decades of experience, Westec’s capabilities are built on a “find a way or make a way” philosophy and dedication to solving the most complex customer challenges.

ABOUT GRACON

Gracon Manufacturing specializes in medical injection molding. Gracon’s headquarters features ISO Class 7 cleanrooms and presses ranging from 10 tons to 250 tons, allowing them to mold parts anywhere from 1 square inch to 1 square foot. From product development to final assembly, Gracon Manufacturing’s flexible operations manufacture products that meet their customers’ needs and all regulatory requirements.

SUMMARY

Westec Plastics used their Mantle metal 3D printer to print a set of H13 tool steel inserts for Gracon Manufacturing. Gracon Manufacturing was implementing a design change on a plastic part already in production, so needed to get tooling as quickly as possible to validate the design change. By printing with their Mantle metal 3D printer, Westec Plastics reduced the lead time on the inserts from 3 weeks to just 5 days. Additionally, the printer ran lights out over the weekend, resulting in the inserts requiring only 2 hours of active labor from Westec’s team.

“WE SIMPLY STARTED THE PRINTER FRIDAY AFTERNOON; IT RAN UNATTENDED ALL WEEKEND! MONDAY MORNING, OUR TEAM EXAMINED THE COMPLETELY PRINTED INSERTS. THE PRINTED INSERTS WERE MOVED TO THE SINTERING OVEN A FEW MINUTES LATER. WITH JUST A FEW HOURS OF OUR TEAMS’ TIME, WE WERE ABLE TO PRODUCE H13 STEEL MOLD INSERTS.

MANTLE’S TECHNOLOGY IS VITAL FOR HELPING US EXPAND OUR CAPACITY SINCE WE CAN INCREASE OUR TOOL ROOM THROUGHPUT WITH A LIGHTS-OUT MACHINE, RUNNING 24/7 WITH VERY LITTLE DIRECT MAN HOURS.”

-TAMMY BARRAS, PRESIDENT, WESTEC PLASTICS

THE CHALLENGE

Gracon Manufacturing approached Westec Plastics as they knew Westec had recently installed a Mantle metal 3D printer for toolmaking. Gracon was implementing a design change to a medical manufacturing aid already in production. To validate this design change, Gracon wanted to purchase a tool quickly and looked for solutions compared to buying a traditionally made set of inserts that would take weeks.

The inserts featured complex features deep within the cavity to standardize the molded parts’ wall thickness. These deep features would be challenging to machine but were easy to print

THE SOLUTION

Gracon reached out to Westec Plastics to overcome these challenges. Westec informed Gracon that they would print the H13 tool steel insert in five days compared to the three weeks estimated to build the inserts traditionally. Once Gracon decided to print the insert, the cooling channels were redesigned to take advantage of Mantle’s ability to print conformal cooling channels.

The insert included a conformal cooling channel to improve cooling efficiency and part quality

The inserts required only two hours of the Westec Plastics team’s labor as the programming was automated and the machine ran “lights out” over the weekend without user interaction. Westec sent the part to Gracon for the final finishing, which included milling to the exterior and parting line before being installed into the mold base. This was estimated to take 6 hours.

THE RESULT

Westec Plastics used their Mantle metal 3D printer for toolmaking to produce H13 tool steel inserts for Gracon Manufacturing in just 5 days. This shaved over 2.5 weeks off the production timeline. The time savings came from Westec’s ability to produce the inserts with only two hours of toolmaker time and the printer running lights out over the weekend when the toolshop is normally not working.