IN-HOUSE SOLUTIONS FOR PLASTIC PART PRODUCTION
Over two decades, rpm has built a portfolio of in-house production technologies to produce plastic parts from series 1 to 10,000. Our account managers and technical staff pride themselves in offering one or more solutions for each project based on the technical requirements, quantity and timeline for each part.
One of the key advantages of partnering with rpm is having a single contact to scale from development to small series production. A single project may move through three or more technologies over the development lifetime. Our team provides technical advice throughout the process to ensure that each stage is optimized for cost and reliable production.
FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPES FOR TECHNICAL AND CONSUMER PRODUCTS
Since the beginning, rpm produced functional prototypes in Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) for rapid iteration and testing. That has expanded to include Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) and SLA 3D printed parts. 5 years later, rpm expanded towards conventional casting of Polyamide (PA 6) using NylonMold™ and vacuum casting polyurethane parts (PU) in silicon moulds to enable rapid manufacturing with series and series-similar functional materials.
PRE-SERIES PRODUCTION SOLUTIONS
rpm is a specialist in PA moulding using the series material PA6 (also with reinforcement) in silicon moulds. The process allows companies to avoid expensive mould costs until a product design is locked. The materials used in PU moulding and Reaction Injection Moulding have a mechanical properties profile that can be correlated to many series materials for covering pre-series part demand.
SMALL AND SPECIALTY SERIES
For producing parts at quantities that most injection moulding companies aren’t interested in, rpm has a series of solutions producing end-use parts for a variety of industries. SLS and DLS 3D printing both utilize materials and achieve an accuracy that required for sales-ready parts. They are particularly good fits for complex geometries, lattice structures and specialty materials.
For simpler geometries, casting into plastic milled moulds with RIM materials can produce end-use ready parts at a fraction of the price for injection moulding tooling. One third of rpm’s revenue comes from injection moulding of technical and end-use parts in aluminum and steel moulds at volumes of 200-10,000 parts per year.
SOLUTIONS FOR AFTERMARKET PARTS
An increasingly important focus for rpm is aftermarket parts. When a part can be redesigned, both DLS and SLS can produce functional parts on demand. When parts need to stay true to the original design, rpm produces new injection moulds including using reverse engineering. For larger parts PA6 moulding or RIM are often good alternatives without requiring metal tooling. As a full-service provider, rpm also can add hinges, sealings or sourced components to send sales-ready parts directly to customers throughout Europe.
LATTICE GENERATION FOR PRODUCTS
One of the key advantages of additive manufacturing is the production of complex geometries like lattice structures. rpm has become experts in lattice generation through work in both DLS and SLS. Their products range from regular, lightweight lattices to the integration of channeling and complex features to fully customized, automatically generated lattice forms.
DESIGN FOR AM SERVICES
Preparing parts for additive manufacturing requires a different approach than just pressing the “print” button. With over 20 years of experience, each part is validated for production. Our team will advise potential design improvements and optimisations as part of our service.
