Low-Volume Rapid Thermoforming With 3D Printed Molds

Formlabs published its most recent white paper on "low-volume, rapid thermoforming with 3D printed molds". With Formech's collaboration, feedback was provided on using Formlabs 3D printers and resins for vacuum forming tooling.

Tooling is an essential part of the vacuum forming process and with 3D printing becoming more mainstream, Formech was interested in testing some of Formlabs latest resins.

A simple tray was modeled up by Formech, as an example of a typical product many vacuum forming companies produce. From Formech's past experience with Formlabs machines, we knew the finish quality of the SLA printed tool was high, so our main objective was to test the resilience of the tooling to withstand the temperatures during a typical vacuum forming production run.

For more details, you can download the white paper here