Rapid Tooling Guidelines for Sand Casting describes the guidelines for the sand casting industry in using rapid tooling processes. Topics in the seven chapters include sand casting processes, tool design and construction, fast freeform fabrication processes, rapid tooling processes, sand casting dimension control, rapid tooling evaluation methods and decision making processes. Twelve case studies will also be examined in the book.

A discussion of the rapid tooling (RT) technologies under development and in use for the timely production of moulds and manufacturing tools. It describes applications within various leading companies and guides product and manufacturing process development groups on ways to reduce investments of money and time.

Rapid prototyping is an exciting new technology used to create physical models and functional prototypes directly from CAD models. Rapid tooling concerns the production of tooling using parts manufactured by rapid prototyping. The book describes the characteristics and capabilities of the main known rapid prototyping processes. It covers in detail various commercially available processes such as: Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and others. The text places a strong emphasis on practical applications and contains an abundance of photographs and diagrams to illustrate clearly the principles of the machines and processes involved.

A discussion of the rapid tooling (RT) technologies under development and in use for the timely production of moulds and manufacturing tools. It describes applications within various leading companies and guides product and manufacturing process development groups on ways to reduce investments of money and time.

This book provides a baseline of rapid prototyping technologies to guide users and business leaders through the evaluation, justification, and implementation process. Rapid prototyping is a powerful tool for design, engineering and manufacturing, and is used in nearly every industry that manufactures mechanical components. This book fills the knowledge gap for the industry novice through an in-depth analysis of the various rapid prototyping technologies and processes. It also covers the technology's strengths, limitations, benefits and associated costs to aid the decision making process. Also included are comparisons to other processes such as CNC machining. In an age where better, faster, cheaper is the mantra for product development, this book offers invaluable information that will help you decide if rapid prototyping is the right tool to solve your specific design and manufacturing challenges.

The aim of new techniques of rapid prototyping, tooling and manufacturing is to take a new product from the Computer Aided Design (CAD) stage into instant production of the prototype, or even the end use part. In this report the different methods available, the material choice, accuracy and model build size are described. An additional indexed section containing several hundred abstracts from the Rapra Polymer Library database gives useful references for further reading.