We had two recent projects that took full advantage of 3D printed tooling fixtures. The first part was made out of Delrin, a tough, high impact material resistant to impact. However the part had numerous smooth contours that required tight tolerances. Most challenging of all was a circular head on both the top and bottom. Seizing this challenge, the team decided aluminum for the tooling fixtures was out of the question, so they turned instead to Epoxy EPX 82.
Utilizing Siemens NX for designing & simulating both the part and the soft jaws, the team crafted the fixtures. The top notch holding the top circular head would’ve been difficult to cut out of aluminum, and in the end the rounded well meeting the flat wall held the part perfectly.
The second part was a larger prototype. We can’t show the part, but the tooling fixtures came out great, perfectly cradling the interior caverns of the part.