Pinpoint accuracy

A UK-developed production technology claims to drastically improve tooling time and cost, with applications in areas such as aerospace, motor sport and medical devices.

Employing a patented process called subtractive pin tooling (SPT), Surface Generation has developed a system in which a row of pins are raised and machined to create the face of the tool, as opposed to the entire solid mould insert.

The advantage of this, according to the company, is that the tool can be re-used, thereby saving time in manufacturing and ultimately offering a reduced time to market for new products.

SPT uses a hybrid subtractive and additive build strategy to create the front face of the tool, which is achieved by assembling a bed of disposable square pins, approximately 50mm square.

Following information provided by the CAD file, the pins can be moved into a near-net position and then machined. After use the bed can be reformatted for the next job, allowing companies to build customised products economically.