What Is Rapid Tooling? Traditional Mold Manufacturing vs RP-Based Mold Making

Traditional mold manufacturing methods can generally be divided into two main categories. One approach uses a master pattern to reproduce the mold, while the other uses CNC machine tools to manufacture the mold directly. In new product development, reducing the time and cost required for mold manufacturing is one of the most effective ways to shorten the overall development cycle and control total project cost.

The introduction of rapid prototyping technology into mold manufacturing has created a major shift in the industry. Its main value lies in reducing mold manufacturing cost and shortening mold development lead time. When rapid prototyping is applied to the mold development process, the result is commonly referred to as rapid tooling or rapid mold manufacturing.

In the field of mold manufacturing, rapid prototyping technology is mainly used in two ways. It can be used to produce master patterns that support later mold design and manufacturing steps, or it can be used to manufacture the mold directly through rapid prototyping-based processes. For this reason, RP-based rapid mold manufacturing is generally divided into two categories: direct tooling and indirect tooling.