Production-grade moulded parts in five days

A British product design consultancy has developed a mould tool that can produce production-grade aluminium components within five days, writes Dean Palmer New tooling technology has been developed that promises production-grade aluminium components within five days, giving design engineers the opportunity to assess the design performance of parts in the early stages of product development, prior to investing in expensive production tooling. Based in Suffolk, Minima Design's new 'Kwik-tool', goes beyond rapid prototyping, generating multiple prototype injection-moulded components using production-grade material in just a matter of days. This isn't about producing rapid prototypes or models by using rapid prototyping machines and inferior grade resins, Kwik-Tool parts are typically made from aluminium and so closely represent the actual production part in terms of surface finish, tolerance and quality. Parts are CNC machined rather than laser sintered. The tool is basically an aluminium composite tool that is split into layers and CNC-machined directly from 3D CAD data. "This approach," explained Matt Horsup, design manager at Minima Design, "allows modularity within the tool, which provides complete flexibility. Complex shapes can be machined quickly, allowing time for engineers to undertake tool modifications, ensuring a perfect pre-production moulding within a few days." He added that the tool leads to reduced project time and associated costs during potentially expensive stages of a project. Working alongside companies, Minima ensures this vital stage of the project is carefully implemented and managed, maintaining full communication with the project team to ensure all objectives are met during the process. Tool longevity is also very impressive for a prototyping process, with recent trials delivering a range from 100 to 700 components from just one tool. According to Horsup, no other prototyping method fulfils these requirements within such a short delivery time. Many companies have already benefited from the new tool. Complex parts have been produced for drinks dispensers and numerous bottle caps and intricate engineering components have also been produced, including hydrogen fuel cells, a centrifugal pump for the oil and gas sector, an award-winning ultrasonic cane for blind people, industrial vision cameras and mobile phones. Horsup said that Kwik-tool reduces risk because it enables "complete component evaluation prior to investing in expensive and time consuming production tooling". It also provides customers with design flexibility, ensuring that design changes can be implemented and tested quickly and easily. Reassurance is also provided as the tool enables full evaluation of design performance in the early stages of the project. Project lead times are reduced and so there is an opportunity for designers to carry out more design iterations on a product or component. As well as Kwik-Tool, Minima offers industrial design and styling services, detailed design for manufacture, consumer analysis, concept innovation, concept development, product prototyping and testing and manufacturing management expertise. The staff are a mix of mechanical, electrical and electronics design engineers and industrial designers. One of the firm's customers, UK-based company GasGenie, produces gas turbines and associated power generation equipment. The firm approached Minima to produce a range of unique design concepts for its next generation hydrogen fuel cell systems. Minima's task was to focus on industrial design, style and branding to ensure the products were suitable for multiple markets. The product was the first volume-produced Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell module, designed for integration into a wide variety of stationary and portable power generation applications. It also provides OEMs with an opportunity for further market development, enabling their products to be used safely within indoor environments and other locations where the use of conventional internal combustion engine generators is not possible. The unit converts hydrogen fuel and oxygen in a non-combustive electrochemical reaction to generate up to 1200W of unregulated DC electrical power. Emitting heat and water as by-products of power generation, the fuel cell's quiet operation and compact size make it ideal for integration into uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, emergency power generators and recreational or portable products. Unlike battery technology with limited run-times, the product is capable of providing full extended run back-up operation or intermittent electrical power as long as fuel is supplied to the unit. The chosen launch markets were the marine industry and the commercial workplace environment. Minima produced flexible design solutions using good industrial design practice to maximise product appeal. Visually accurate rendered images and computer simulations of the product were produced, allowing extensive market testing with further opportunities for developing the design for successful commercial manufacture.