PROTOTYPE DIE CASTING
When CAD software only goes so far as a ‘tool’, A true production intent tool
 returns the investment in many ways – even using it for commercial product sales.
To remain competitive in today’s markets, manufacturers are constantly searching for new benefits from prototyping that go far beyond the ability to assess the visual qualities of a design as this is done very well using CAD modeling.
While CAD is the first step that should be done iteratively to make a better part, CAD software in a company cannot test the real variations of a process, assembly line or the customer’s use of a part.
When you decide to prototype or hoping to use your tooling investment also for commercial sales, saving a little is of little value …
 Today, production style prototyping can enable functional, assembly and performance testing. If the tooling is capable –
many companies support commercial sales from prototype tools during early launch or for low volume work like military, electronic, telecom, custom automotive and industrial applications.
We call this ‘functional prototyping & low volume production’.
Using die casting is actually an engineering or business decision which
supports the following:
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More detailed market research to assess the viability of a product
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Allows engineers to have actual real world testing before a decision is taken to move to full scale
production - saving on engineering changes, tool changes and delays in production.
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Validates engineering assumptions to avoid legal claims of product failure by not testing the part with the same alloy of material and process.
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Production intent unifies the entire team,
quality can determine tolerances, manufacturing can black belt cost out of the part before production, engineering can warrant a part meeting requirements, accounting minimizes the risk of cost overruns by investing early.
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Allows a company to sell a better quality part for low volume instead of crude looking gravity castings or machined parts thought only to be within the budget.
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Allows a company to launch into mass production while world wide sourcing for high volume is taking place. This tool then is a North American back up in case of sourcing issues.
All of this is made possible by short run production style tools used for prototype and low volume production. It is an up front investment that pays back in many ways.
‘Production representative’ prototyping offers only a prediction of how a part will perform – telling less of the true cost, dimensional control or performance under load. Production intent prototyping is production processing on a small, lower cost scale which can validate costs, confirm dimensional control and optimize performance by making low cost changes to the tool.
There is a distinctive difference between "production intent" and "production representative".
If the process is specified as die cast, no other process is production intent. A sand or plaster casting will not provide the same part as a true high-pressure die cast. Significant differences exist, we provide both services, our intentions are to provide our customer the correct process and part.
Future’s prototype tools have exceptional performance, dimensional capability and speed. These tools will provide in most cases thousands of parts, especially in zinc. These tools are excellent for prototype and low volume production. For greater volume – we will suggest an H13 steel tool created to a true production specification.
To find out how Future
Die Cast can save you time and money, click
here.
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