3D printed jigs and fixtures

Related Vendors

Meusburger Georg GmbH & Co. KG

Renishaw plc

Stratasys GmbH

Solution

Rutland had originally purchased an PolyJet™ 3D printer to produce rapid prototypes but then realized it was also an ideal platform for producing jigs and fixtures.

With the assistance of PolyJet technology, Rutland became able to produce jigs and fixtures with exceptional surface finish and intricate detail, benefits which were unattainable via conventional milling machines. Plus, Rutland’s engineers were able to leverage the 3D printer’s multi-material capability to produce rubber-like surfaces that would cushion and protect production parts that came in direct contact with the fixture. Identification labels were also added to ensure jigs and fixtures were not lost. What’s more, all of this could be accomplished in a single build on the 3D printer thereby eliminating additional steps.

Results

By taking full advantage of their 3D printer, Rutland was able to reduce the cost of producing jigs and fixtures and reclaim its CNC machines exclusively for revenue generating processes.

In total, the switch reduced Rutland’s per-fixture cost from $1,500 to $900 or from $150,000 annually to $90,000 — a $60,000 (40%) savings. It also allowed Rutland to add 300 production days for one CNC machine back into its annual operations plan.

Finally, the company was able to produce customized jigs and fixtures faster than ever before by using the 3D printer — a 66% time savings compared to CNC milling. Now, engineers can literally design a fixture during the day, print it overnight and have it ready for use the next day.

As Carl Martin, Technical Manager for Rutland Plastics put it, “We can now produce jigs and fixtures in a fraction of the time and cost on our Objet 3D Printer without tying up production machinery.”

“Plus, we don’t have anymore machining constraints. We can literally print something that we couldn’t have manufactured any other way,” adds Simon Grainger, Rutland Plastics’ Design Engineer.

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