For companies seeking custom plastic enclosures in quantities ranging from dozens to thousands, ThermoFab has delivered quality thermoforming at a fast, four- to-six-week turnaround time since 1976.

Focused primarily on the medical, industrial, computer and armed services markets, ThermoFab clients include L3, MAKO Surgical, Locus Robotics, Cisco, Starry, TransMedics, and BioTek. Says ThermoFab President, Tom King, “We make customer parts look nice, no matter what they’re covering.”

Leading the way with 3D printing

Tom believes in leading, not following, which led him to explore 3D printing. After observing the 3D printing industry for a year and carefully evaluating Stratasys and Rize 3D printers, he purchased a Rize One 3D printer because of its ease and speed of support removal without solvents following 3D printing.

ThermoFab uses the Rize 3D printer to produce fixtures for setting up production rather than using blocks of CNC machined aluminum.

“We produce low-volumes of high-end equipment, producing 5 to 10 or up to hundreds of parts per month and they have to be right,” Tom explains. “Producing aluminum blocks took longer than 3D printing.”

ThermoFab’s engineers also use the 3D printer to produce prototypes of small thermoformed parts, such as faceplates, faceplate backings, housings and more for form and function testing before manufacturing the final product.

Speeding the process, reducing errors, cutting costs

Using Rize One instead of CNC machining to manufacture fixtures is speeding Thermofab’s process at lower cost. 3D printing saves time by eliminating tooling errors or reducing errors before expensive tooling is cut. In one case, for example, a 3D CAD model of a very large part was created from a 2D drawing, scaled-down and 3D printed prior to cutting the tooling. Printing the part exposed a curve in the design that couldn’t previously be detected in the actual part, averting a costly error.

The more you play, the more you learn

Always innovating, ThermoFab also produces experimental parts on their Rize One 3D printer, testing the possibilities to continue to improve their process and expand their services.

For example, they plan to use Rize 3D printing technology to manufacture tooling. According to Tom, “The more you play, the more you learn and the more you learn, the better you get at it.”

Rize Inc.
www.rize3d.com