Prototype to Production — Faster

Rapid Tooling Service

Metal 3D printed mold inserts that go from drawing to injected plastic parts faster than conventional tooling — without sacrificing material accuracy, surface quality, or dimensional precision.

What Is Rapid Tooling?

Real Steel Molds. Real Plastic Parts. In Weeks.

Rapid tooling uses metal 3D printing to produce injection mold inserts much faster than traditional machining. Unlike soft tooling (epoxy or aluminum), our inserts are made in 420 mold steel or 18Ni300 maraging steel — the same alloys used in full production tooling.

This means you get real injection-molded plastic parts — in your chosen production material, with proper wall thickness, draft angles, and surface finish — weeks before conventional tooling would be ready.

Real steel mold inserts — not epoxy or soft tooling
Injection-molded parts in your production plastic material
Typical lead time: 1–3 weeks from drawing to first part
Conformal cooling available — reduce prototype cycle time from day one
CNC finishing and polishing to SPI standards
1–3
Weeks to first plastic part
420
Mold steel — same as production
SPI-A1
Mirror surface achievable
Comparison

Rapid Tooling vs Conventional

Factor
Conventional Tooling
Rapid Tooling (3D Printed)
Lead time (mold inserts)
4–8 weeks
1–3 weeks
Tool material
P20 / H13 steel (machined)
420 / 18Ni300 (printed + CNC)
Conformal cooling
Not possible
Available from day one
Design iteration
Slow — major cost to modify
Fast — reprint modified insert
Part material
Production plastic
Production plastic
Best for
High-volume final tooling
Prototyping, NPI, bridge production
Use Cases

When to Use Rapid Tooling

Design Validation

Validate part geometry, wall thickness, draft angles, and fit before committing to full production tooling. Real plastic parts reveal what CAD cannot.

New Product Introduction

Compress your NPI timeline. Get to market faster with rapid tooling for first samples, then transition to full production tooling without re-designing the part.

Bridge Production

Production tooling isn't ready yet. Rapid tooling fills the gap — delivering real injected parts for early orders, customer pilots, or regulatory testing.

Small Batch Production

When volumes don't justify the cost of full production tooling, rapid tooling inserts provide a cost-effective path to injected plastic parts in quantities from 100–10,000 pieces.

Cooling Optimization

Test conformal cooling performance on prototype tools before specifying it for full production tooling — proving cycle time gains with data before scaling.

Complex Geometry

Parts that would require multiple setups or expensive EDM work in conventional machining can often be 3D printed in one step, at a fraction of the lead time.

Get Your Rapid Tooling Quote

Send your part drawing or CAD file. We'll respond within 24 hours with a timeline and quote.

+86 182 6866 1068

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