Tooling for sheet metal forming, with machining or outsourcing, can be a costly and lengthy process. With advancements in materials science for in-house stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing, you can reduce your tooling costs by 3D printing strong plastic tools in-house.
In this webinar, Shane Wighton, engineering lead at Formlabs, will teach you how to form sheet metal with SLA 3D printed tools. Learn specific design considerations and application examples for printed tools suitable for your machine shop or assembly line.
Primary Topics:
- The step-by-step process to form an electric saw blade guard with sheet metal and 3D printed tools
- How Shane designed two different tools to address three design challenges that exist with forming a blade guard
- Which 3D-printed materials were used to print multiple iterations of tooling for the blade guard
- Problems that can occur with 3D-printed tools and tips to help prevent them
- Die design guidelines for forming inner features and bending metal sheet with holes
Presenter:
Shane Wighton
Engineering Lead, Formlabs
Shane is an engineering leader and the site lead at the North Carolina office. He organizes the efforts of around 40 engineers across many interdisciplinary engineering teams. He drives product vision, technical decisions, project timelines, engineering process, and hiring for engineering.
