The laminated steel moulds cut delivery time by one-third

The laminated steel moulds cut delivery time by one-third

German automotive mouldmaker Georg Kaufmann has introduced a sheet steel mould that costs around 20% less than an equivalent solid steel one. The new rapid tooling LOM (laminated object moulding) mould was shown at this week’s VDI Plastics in Automotive Engineering conference in Mannheim, Germany.

Chairman Georg Kaufmann told PRW.com the first LOM mould was delivered to a German customer that will make its first production parts in the next three to four weeks. He added that the delivery time of around 8-12 weeks is faster than the current 16-18 weeks for a conventional textile and foil back-injection mould.

Computer aided design (CAD) data is used to divide the required mould into slices which are then cut by laser out of 0.35mm to 0.5mm epoxide resin coated steel sheet. The cut sheets are then stacked together, baked and the mould surface ground.

Georg Kaufmann’s CAD engineer Rudolf Wьrsch told PRW.com that the laminated sheet construction is an established technology for the metal sheet forming industry, but believes it is the first time that it has been used for injection moulding plastics.