ABSTRACT
Rapid tooling refers to mold cavities that are either directly or indirectly fabricated using rapid prototyping (RP) techniques. Soft tooling can be used to inject multiple wax or plastic parts using conventional injection-molding techniques. Traditional hard-tooling patterns are fabricated by machining either tool steel or aluminum into the negative shape of the desired component. Steel tools are very expensive, yet typically last indefinitely, building millions of parts in a mass-production environment. Aluminum tools are less expensive than steel, although sometimes still $10,000 or more, and are used for lower production quantities up to several hundred thousand parts.
