Direct rapid prototyping of tools

Abstract

Even as several new Rapid Prototyping processes are emerging that can build metallic and ceramic tools directly in slices, this new manufacturing concept continues to have an inherent problem of poor accuracy primarily due to the staircase effect. To surmount this problem, a new RP process is proposed that makes use of adaptive slicing, The edges of these slices need not be vertical unlike the existing RP processes. In manufacturing, one uses a fast but inaccurate roughing process followed by one or more finishing processes which are slow but accurate. The methodology adopted in the proposed RP process also uses this concept of two-level processing, viz., near-net building of the layer and net-shaping it by high-speed machining. This new methodology will result in faster prototyping due to adaptive layer thickness in addition to better accuracy and surface finish since the staircase effect is eliminated. The proposed RP process can be used for building both metallic as well as soft prototypes.