Rapid Tooling Solutions
Fast bridge production tooling with 2-4 week lead times. Aluminum and steel tooling solutions for 100-50,000 parts.
What Is Rapid Tooling?
Rapid tooling is an accelerated manufacturing process that creates bridge production molds quickly, typically in 2-4 weeks. This approach bridges the gap between prototyping and full-scale production, allowing you to produce market-ready parts without the cost and time investment of production tooling.
Our rapid tooling solutions use advanced manufacturing technologies and optimized mold designs to deliver high-quality tooling that can produce thousands of parts while maintaining tight tolerances and excellent surface finishes.
Fast Turnaround
2-4 week delivery vs 12-20 weeks for production tooling
Cost Effective
60-80% cost savings compared to production molds
Production Quality
Parts meet production specifications and tolerances
Scalable Volume
Perfect for 100-50,000 part production runs
Bridge Production Excellence
Our rapid tooling services provide the perfect solution for bridge production, allowing you to:
- Test market demand before full production commitment
- Launch products faster with reduced time-to-market
- Reduce inventory risk with on-demand production
- Validate final part design and manufacturability
Rapid Tooling Options
Choose between aluminum and steel rapid tooling based on your production volume, material requirements, and budget constraints.
Aluminum Rapid Tooling
Fast and cost-effective for low to medium volume production runs
Key Features:
- Excellent thermal conductivity for faster cooling
- Easier and faster to machine
- Lower material cost
- Quick design modifications
Best For:
Product validation, market testing, pilot production runs, and limited edition products
Steel Bridge Tooling
Durable and robust for higher volume production requirements
Key Features:
- Superior wear resistance and durability
- Higher production volumes
- Better for abrasive materials
- Maintains tight tolerances longer
Best For:
Higher volume bridge production, pre-production validation, and products with proven market demand
Rapid Tooling Process
Our streamlined rapid tooling process ensures fast delivery while maintaining the highest quality standards.
Design Review
We analyze your 3D CAD files for manufacturability, optimize part geometry for molding, and suggest design improvements to enhance quality and reduce costs.
Mold Design
Our engineers design optimized mold layouts with proper gating, cooling channels, and ejection systems to ensure efficient production cycles.
CNC Machining
High-precision CNC machines cut mold cavities and cores from aluminum or steel blocks with tight tolerances and excellent surface finishes.
Heat Treatment
Mold components undergo precise heat treatment processes to achieve optimal hardness, durability, and dimensional stability for production use.
Mold Trial
We run initial mold trials to validate part quality, dimensions, and appearance. Adjustments are made to optimize cycle times and part consistency.
Production
With approved tooling, we begin full production runs, implementing quality control measures and process monitoring to ensure consistent part quality.
Tooling Materials
We use high-quality mold materials selected based on your production requirements, part complexity, and cost considerations.
Aluminum Mold Materials
6061-T6 Aluminum
General-purpose aluminum alloy with good machinability and strength.
- • Tensile Strength: 45,000 psi
- • Hardness: 95 HB
- • Excellent for prototype tooling
- • Cost-effective option
7075-T6 Aluminum
High-strength aluminum alloy for more demanding applications.
- • Tensile Strength: 83,000 psi
- • Hardness: 150 HB
- • Superior wear resistance
- • Higher production volume capability
Steel Mold Materials
P20 Tool Steel
Pre-hardened mold steel with excellent machinability.
- • Hardness: 28-32 HRC
- • Excellent for medium production
- • Good polishability
- • Cost-effective steel option
H13 Tool Steel
Hot work steel with superior thermal fatigue resistance.
- • Hardness: 42-48 HRC (heat treated)
- • Excellent for high production
- • Superior wear resistance
- • Best for abrasive materials
420SS Stainless Steel
Stainless steel for corrosive material applications.
- • Hardness: 30-45 HRC
- • Excellent corrosion resistance
- • Medical and food applications
- • High polish finish capability
Industries We Serve
Our rapid tooling solutions support diverse industries with specialized requirements and tight production schedules.
Medical Devices
FDA-compliant tooling for surgical instruments, diagnostic equipment, and medical device housings
Automotive
Interior components, exterior trim, and functional parts for vehicle testing and validation
Electronics
Enclosures, connectors, and housings for consumer electronics and industrial equipment
Aerospace
Lightweight components, interior panels, and specialized parts for aviation applications
Consumer Products
Housing components, handles, and functional parts for consumer goods and appliances
Industrial
Machine components, tool housings, and specialized industrial equipment parts
Quality Assurance
Our rapid tooling process incorporates comprehensive quality control measures to ensure your molds and parts meet the highest standards of precision and performance.
From initial design review to final production validation, we maintain strict quality protocols throughout the entire tooling lifecycle.
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
Our quality management system ensures consistent processes and documentation throughout production.
Material Verification
All raw materials are verified with certificates of compliance and material testing reports.
Dimensional Inspection
CMM and coordinate inspection systems verify mold dimensions and part accuracy within specified tolerances.
Process Documentation
Complete documentation of tooling parameters, processing conditions, and quality inspection reports.
Quality Standards We Follow
Ready to Start Your Rapid Tooling Project?
Get high-quality bridge production tooling delivered in 2-4 weeks. Contact our engineering team today to discuss your project requirements.
Request a Rapid Tooling Quote
Upload your CAD files and project details to receive a comprehensive quote within 24 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about our rapid tooling services and capabilities.
Rapid tooling is optimized for speed and cost-effectiveness, typically delivering molds in 2-4 weeks for bridge production volumes (100-50,000 parts). Production tooling involves more durable materials and complex designs, taking 12-20 weeks but supporting high-volume production (100,000+ parts). Rapid tooling uses materials like aluminum or pre-hardened steel, while production tooling typically uses hardened tool steels with enhanced wear resistance.
Our rapid tooling molds maintain excellent dimensional accuracy, typically within ±0.005 inches (0.127mm) for most features. We use high-precision CNC machining and rigorous quality inspection to ensure tight tolerances. For critical dimensions requiring tighter tolerances, we can implement precision machining or post-processing operations to achieve specifications as tight as ±0.002 inches (0.051mm).
Our rapid tooling supports a wide range of engineering thermoplastics including ABS, polycarbonate, polypropylene, nylon, PBT, PET, POM, and various specialty compounds. We can also process filled materials with glass or carbon fibers up to 30% loading. Material selection depends on your application requirements for strength, temperature resistance, chemical resistance, and regulatory compliance.
Yes, one of the advantages of rapid tooling is the ability to make design modifications relatively quickly and cost-effectively. Aluminum molds can be easily modified for dimensional changes or feature adjustments. Steel molds can also be modified, though at higher cost and longer lead times. We recommend thorough design validation before tooling, but understand that iterative improvements are often part of product development.
Rapid tooling typically costs 60-80% less than production tooling for similar part geometries. The exact savings depend on part complexity, material selection, and required precision. Aluminum rapid tooling can cost as little as 20% of hardened steel production tooling, while bridge steel tooling typically costs 40-50% of production tooling. These significant cost advantages make rapid tooling ideal for market validation and bridge production scenarios.