Stratasys’ development of high-temperature materials, as well as the increased throughput of its Fortus 3D Production Systems, enable the manufacture of high-temperature lay-up / sacrificial tooling in hours or days, rather than the weeks or months it would take to produce and procure tooling made from traditional methods.
3D printed tooling also offers disruptive cost-savings compared to traditional tooling materials and numerous other less quantified benefits, such as dramatic weight savings. This is being exemplified by Dutch 3D service bureau, Visual First, who is using FDM Nylon 12CF carbon-filled thermoplastic to replace metal machine parts for its customer, The Chocolate Factory.
This has significantly reduced machine downtime, ensuring production line continuity for the company. In fact, the replacement time of broken machine parts has been reduced from one month to one week using Stratasys additive manufacturing compared to traditional handmade metal replacements, with cost reductions of 60%.