Design Considerations for Additive Manufactured Tooling

FDM® additive manufacturing has quickly become the technology of choice for the rapid production of manufacturing tooling

This design guide is focused on design considerations for production tooling, but the vast majority of the principles and guidelines are applicable to other additively manufactured parts as well.

FDM production tools have many similar design and use considerations as traditional tooling, although the technology provides greater design capability and freedom. This guide describes considerations for the adoption of additively manufactured tooling using Stratasys FDM technology and should be followed whenever possible. Due to various best practices, deviations to this guide may be implemented at the discretion of the individual user’s expertise.

The objective of this guide is to provide design and build considerations for production tooling used in manufacturing. The intent is to aid in bridging the knowledge gap between Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) techniques and conventional tooling manufacturing best practices. This design guide aims primarily to provide:

• Additive design considerations for tool designers

• FDM design and process considerations for tooling