Prototype injection mold tooling insert with fine threading made using Mantle's automated toolmaking technology

PROTOTYPE TOOLING

REAL STEEL TOOLS DURING PROTOTYING.

Mantle-printed prototype tooling enables production-equivalent parts early in product development processes. Steel production-representative tooling allows for true functional prototyping, manufacturing validation, trials, and certification.

MOLD
FUNCTIONAL PARTS
VALIDATE
MANUFACTURING PROCESS
COMPRESS
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
BRIDGE
AND PRODUCTION

REAL FUNCTIONAL PARTS

Test confidently, knowing that even your most challenging materials – including PEEK, Acetal, Radel, heavily filled, and even metal – were made from production-representative tools.

A prototype plastic medical component molded with Mantle prototype tooling

TOOL STEEL FOR BRIDGE AND PRODUCTION VOLUMES

Prototype tooling for an injection mold slide

Production representative tooling

H13 tool steel for millions of cycles

Polish, texture, and repair

VALIDATE YOUR MANUFACTURING PROCESS

By using tool steel tooling during the development stage, manufacturers de-risk their production molding by testing and validating critical process parameters such as plastic shrink rate, cycle time, and cooling rate.

Graphic of injection molded prototype produced with Mantle prototype tooling

CASE STUDIES

FIRST PROTOTYPE LEAD TIME CUT BY 80% USING TOOL-STEEL MOLD FOR HIGH-TEMP PLASTIC PARTS

A global medical device manufacturer sought a solution to significantly reduce the time to prototype parts made with high-temperature plastic. Using Mantle, a cavity and core tool-steel inserts were printed in just over 2.5 days.

WESTEC PLASTICS PRODUCES H13 PROTOTYPE TOOLING FOR MEDICAL DEVICE COMPONENT IN 5 DAYS

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.

PROTOTYPE TOOLING FAQS

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Prototype tooling is a cost-effective and time-efficient way to produce functional parts for testing, validation, and early-stage manufacturing. These tools often value speed and low cost over durability since they are designed for short runs. Still, they often need to mimic production tooling to ensure the parts produced with the tooling match those of the future production tool.

Prototype tooling is a crucial step in product development, bridging the gap between design validation and full-scale production. After a part's form and fit have been validated—typically using CAD or a plastic 3D-printed prototype—prototype tooling is used to create functional parts using the final production manufacturing process that can be tested under real-world conditions.

Prototype tooling allows manufacturers to assess part functionality and material suitability, ensuring optimal performance while verifying efficient manufacturability using the intended production method (injection molding, die casting, MIM, etc.)

Aluminum Prototype Tools

Aluminum tools are lightweight, cost-effective, and easy to machine, making them ideal for early-stage prototypes or when only a few parts are needed. They are typically used for low-pressure molding applications and less abrasive materials. While aluminum's great ability to conduct heat can be a benefit to cool a mold quickly, it can present challenges if you are eventually molding to a steel tool, as steel has a much lower heat transfer coefficient. Parts molded in an aluminum tool will be very different than steel, and you may find a part that molded well in an aluminum tool does not work in your production tool, as the difference in heat transfer can lead to different shrink rates, warping, and other molding defects.

 

Steel Prototype Tools

Steel tools, such as those made with Mantle’s technology, are better suited for prototyping engineering materials (abrasive-filled plastics, high temperature, etc.) required for higher-value applications such as regulated industries that require prototype parts for validation (such as FDA validation). Steel tools are ideal when validating part functionality, performance, and the production manufacturing process. They can also be directly used as bridge or production tools if no or minimal design changes are required.

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