Rapid Tooling

Rapid tooling describes the additive manufacturing of tools, tool inserts, gauges, and molds. The parts are termed tools. Depending on the application and process, they can be prototypes or serial tools or their elements. The additive manufacturing machines are professional printers or production printers. They are described in Chapter 3, “Machines for Rapid Prototyping, Direct Tooling and Direct Manufacturing.” Tools that are used for the production of plastic moldings are preferably considered in the following section. This concentration does not represent a process- specific restriction.