When it comes to the production of jigs, fixtures, and other manufacturing tooling, 3D printing jigs and fixtures is proving to be a reliable, capable, and affordable choice over more traditional methods.
For HMS Industries Inc., in Blairsville, PA, a manufacturer of custom metal stamping and industrial tooling, 3D printing solved their search for a fast and affordable way to produce strong jigs and fixtures that secured parts during production for consistent manufacturing. HMS provides high-quality manufacturing services, including product and prototype development, EDM, tool design, tool and die manufacturing, as well as high-volume stampings and CNC machining, to manufacturers across all industries.
Consulting with Cimquest Inc., a Rize Authorized Reseller, HMS chose to use the Rize One 3D printer from Rize Inc., a Boston based, next-generation additive manufacturing company. HMS cited Rize’s zero-post-processing, isotropic part strength as two of the reasons for the purchase.
Previously, HMS built jigs and fixtures from aluminum, costing as much as $1,000 each. This required a specially trained team member to be taken off another job to produce the part.
With their Rize One 3D printer, HMS employees design and print parts on demand in one day, freeing up a team member and saving up to two days per fixture vs. producing aluminum fixtures, and only costing approximately $40.00 per part.
Moreover, Rize’s safe and sustainable biocompatible materials and process, without any VOCs or post-processing, enables the HMS team to operate Rize One in their tool shop without the need for any special ventilation, storage or disposal equipment.
HMS also uses Rize’s 3D printed marking capability to indicate, right on the part, the location where the part should be placed and part numbers for identification.
Noting that a digital model cannot tell the whole story, the HMS team also prints complex parts to assist in the quoting process before machining the parts. This avoids the additional time and high cost of potentially having to re-machine the parts and increases customer satisfaction.
“Our first 3D printer, my team was able to learn how to use Rize One and be up and running in less than twenty minutes,” said Barry Aikins, Vice President at HMS Industries, Inc.
Said Andy Kalambi, President and CEO of Rize, “We purpose built Rize One with an appliance user experience to bring simplicity, safety and speed to industrial 3D printing and HMS Industries, a first time 3D printing user, has demonstrated its value beyond doubt.”
Rize
www.rize3d.com
