Production grade tooling via layer manufacture Available to Purchase

This paper is a summary of the session topic “Production grade tooling via rapid manufacture” which was part of the Internet conference on the future of RP which ran from December 2000 to February 2001, hosted at Rapid‐Discussion.com^TM. The original position paper which was used to prompt discussion is reported. Three major discussion topics emerged: other layer manufacture based tool manufacturing techniques, finishing/accuracy, and economics. It is concluded that in order to develop a bigger market for production grade tooling manufactured using layer manufacture techniques two things are required: technical developments, notably with regard to accuracy, surface finish, and durability; and an increased awareness of the economics of volume manufacture and of the importance of tooling within that economic framework.