Mantle Metal 3D Printing

Spectrum has invested in the Mantle metal 3D printer, capable of printing H13 steel cavities and cores for rapid prototyping of injection molds in less than 2 weeks, compared to traditional methods that can take months.

The Mantle enables simultaneous printing of multiple design iterations that can be interchanged within the mold, allowing customers to quickly evaluate and optimize their product designs for factors like pull force, snap fit function, and ergonomics.

The printer achieves tight tolerances (around 0.002 inches per linear inch) and features conformal cooling technology, which provides uniform cooling of curved surfaces to prevent part warpage - a significant advancement over traditional linear cooling methods.

Spectrum offers end-to-end support from concept to full production, with the Mantle technology making them a one-stop shop for faster and more efficient product development.

Hi, my name is Luke Thiele. I'm the Manufacturing Engineering Manager here at Spectrum Minneapolis.

Spectrum continues to invest in innovative technologies, and I would love to tell you more about our most innovative purchase - the Mantle metal 3D printer. With injection molding core competency here in Minneapolis, the Mantle allows us to 3D print both H13 steel cavities and cores specifically designed for rapid prototyping.

A traditional injection molding tool fabrication takes about 2 weeks and in many cases months to be ready for molding. With the Mantle, we can have a tool ready for molding in less than 2 weeks. This is exciting in itself, but that isn't the only advantage to this technology.

Coming from an engineering background, I'm personally most excited for what this allows our customers to accomplish with their products. Right now, customers design their product, build a mold, and try it out - whether that is evaluating pull force, checking for function of a snap fit, or simply getting a real-life feel for the ergonomics of the product. Customers almost always require modifications to the design to meet specifications.

Where the Mantle shines is its ability to print multiple iterations at the same time that can be interchanged within the mold. Instead of having all these design changes take weeks to design, build, mold, and repeat, now we can print multiple design iterations at the same time so the customer can get a holistic understanding of how they would like the final product to feel or perform.

Being able to print multiple cavities and cores at once reduces the time and cost required to produce these molds. But again, this isn't the only benefit of Spectrum using the Mantle. The Mantle prints with an H13 paste, which is the current workhorse steel in injection molding, and utilizes a sintering and machining process. The printing process allows us to print with tighter tolerances and better textures opposed to the traditional 3D printing lines. We're now comfortably holding tolerances around 2,000th of an inch per linear inch of the part and are continuing to improve on this as we learn more.

Another advantage to 3D printing injection molds opposed to current machining methods is the addition of conformal cooling. Traditional machining uses a gun drill to make linear cooling lines, meaning that curved surfaces will experience different amounts of cooling based on their distance from that cooling line. With conformal cooling, you can create a printed contoured cooling line that matches the contour of that part geometry so that you can achieve uniform cooling. This is important because plastic shrinks while cooling, so if the cooling is not uniform, then shrinkage also will not be uniform, resulting in part warpage.

Our team has always been ready and available to assist our customers in all aspects of production and product development, from concept to full production. Now that we're able to take advantage of all of these benefits from the Mantle, Spectrum has become your one-stop shop for faster and more efficient product development.