Custom Molder Applies Polymer, Metal 3D Printing for Productivity Gains

Westec Plastics Corp. (Livermore, California) is a 54-year-old custom molder that operates 23 injection presses ranging in size from 25 to 553 tonnes. Specializing in molding high-temperature engineering thermoplastics for the medical device market in ISO Class 6, 7 and 8 cleanrooms, Westec also serves customers in the consumer and government segments.

The company builds some of the molds it uses and outsources the rest to local toolmakers. As such, it has been specifying metal AM technology for the last few years for mold inserts with conformal cooling features that were produced by toolmakers and local service bureaus. Westec recently took possession of the first production metal AM printer from Mantle Inc. , enabling the company to now design and print conformally cooled mold inserts in-house.

The company has used polymer AM technology for the past seven years — the last four in-house with an Ender 5 Plus FFF printer from Shenzhen Creality 3D Technology Co. Ltd. Initially, polymer AM was used to prototype parts. Later, use was expanded to produce part fixtures.

“We work with a lot of medical customers and they frequently modify designs, so it’s really nice to be able to print sample parts and have something physical to hold, as everything looks doable when it’s on the [computer] screen,” Cory Vohs, Westec director of molding, explains. “As we gained experience, we slowly used our printer to try other things, including printing PLA fixtures to hold molded parts for pad printing. Additively manufacturing these parts is certainly faster and less costly than keeping our CNCs running.”

Vohs adds that simple and smaller fixtures are printed in-house, but larger and more complex ones are produced through external resources. The company also uses EOAT in conjunction with cobots to help molding technicians quickly and safely demold parts.

“Although we do try to use off-the-shelf automation components whenever possible, having the ability to design a fixture in-house and either print it ourselves or have it printed nearby is a big advantage to us,” Travis Meeks, Westec vice president of tooling, adds. “This way, we don’t have to interrupt our own tool shop, and we can get the component much faster and at lower cost than if we had to wait weeks to have an outside tool shop produce it conventionally. Plus, a polymer additive fixture isn’t going to damage our molded parts.”