Rapid Tooling Solutions
What Is Rapid Tooling?
Rapid tooling bridges the gap between prototyping and full-scale production, enabling you to produce 100-50,000 parts with production-quality tooling in weeks instead of months.
Fast turnaround for bridge production
Compared to production tooling
Supports bridge production volumes
Tight tolerance manufacturing
Rapid Tooling Options
Choose the right tooling solution based on your production volume, part complexity, and budget requirements.
Aluminum Rapid Tooling
Cost-effective aluminum molds for prototype and low-volume production. Ideal for design validation and market testing.
Steel Bridge Tooling
Durable steel molds for medium-volume production with enhanced wear resistance and longer tool life.
Our Rapid Tooling Process
A streamlined 6-step process that ensures quality and speed from design to delivery.
Design Review
Our engineering team reviews your CAD files and provides design for manufacturability (DFM) feedback to optimize part design for rapid tooling.
Mold Design
We design the mold with optimized gate locations, cooling channels, and venting to ensure quality part production and efficient cycle times.
CNC Machining
High-precision CNC machines cut the mold cavities and cores from aluminum or steel blocks with tight tolerances and excellent surface finish.
Heat Treatment
Steel molds undergo heat treatment to achieve required hardness and wear resistance for extended tool life and consistent part quality.
Mold Testing
We perform initial mold trials (T0, T1) to validate part quality, dimensions, and make any necessary adjustments before production.
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.
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.
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.
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.