Stereolithography (SLA) gives you the power to touch, hold, and evaluate precise physical parts of your design ideas within hours. Stereolithography uses a 3-dimensional CAD file as a blueprint to convert a digital image (.stl file) into a physical part. The CAD file guides a laser that solidifies a photopolymer resin, which builds the SLA part by stacking layer upon layer until the part is complete.
SLA's can assist in product development by finding initial problems early on in the design stage to insure proper fit, form, and function before going into production. This helps to eliminate retooling cost and keeps design changes to a minimum.
Advertising and Marketing can benefit from the quick turnaround of SLA's to promote new products to market before actual production begins. This enables the marketing and advertising staff to market your product, allowing flexibility to make changes if the design is not well accepted. The SLA can give your vendors a hands-on feel to your product. Since it is 3-D, there are less misconceptions about the part than there could be with a drawing or picture.
SLA's can be used to create a soft tool for short run production parts. This cuts down on your turnaround time and cost by eliminating the need for hard tooling. It enables you to have a mold made within two to five days, allowing us to begin your short run production quickly. The soft tool molds are used for short run parts from 1-1000 parts per year.
SLA 500/40 updated with a solid state laser using the DSM Somos Nanoform 15120 resin
, the machine has a build platform of 20" X 20" X 23".
SLA 250 with an argon laser uses DSM Somos ProtoTherm 12110 resin
, the machine has a build platform of 10" X 10" X 10".
Design is one of the most important aspects of the manufacturing process. Without good design and design verification you risk everything. Using prototypes to verify your design, you will help eliminate problems by seeing first hand how that part will fit, form, and function in real life. Not all problems can be seen during the prototype process, which is why we also offer short run production to allow multiple parts time enough to run through extensive product testing.
Rapid PSI offers two methods of tooling in-house for the use in producing high quality prototypes and short run production part(s). RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanized) and urethane are tooling methods that allow you to obtain accurate duplicate part(s) of a master quickly and inexpensively. Delivery of part(s) usually ranges from 7 to 10 days.
Rapid PSI strives to produce the highest quality part possible for your production needs by continually improving our processes and meeting your requirements. We take great pride in our quality of craftsmanship that is why we have taken on the task of becoming ISO 9001:2000 and AS9100(b) compliant. We are having our registration audit in July 2006 to become certified.
