COLUMBUS, Ohio — Rapid prototyping, manufacturing and product development company, Laser Reproductions, has joined with stereolithography resin leader DSM Somos and metal plating experts RepliForm Inc. in offering Metal Clad Composite prototypes to its customers.
Introduced in 2006 by DSM Somos and RepliForm, Metal Clad Composites (MC2) represent the merging of two technologies to deliver metal performance from a prototype without machining. By combining a high-strength Somos stereolithography resin with the nickel plating expertise of RepliForm, the MC2 process produces a highly stiffened composite with significantly enhanced physical properties. As such, these parts offer a lower-cost alternative to die cast and sheet metal parts.
The most common metals replaced by the MC2 process include aluminum, zinc and magnesium in both prototyping and low volume production applications. MC2 cost reductions over machined metal parts can be significant, with as much as 90% savings in some instances.
“Laser Reproductions is committed to being an innovator in our industry and offering the latest technologies to our clients,” said Paul G. Bordner II, president of Laser Reproductions. “Our partnership with DSM Somos has allowed us to be on the cutting edge in terms of material offerings, MC2 is no exception.”
To begin offering MC2 parts to its customers, Laser Reproductions first went through an extensive training process with both DSM Somos and RepliForm. Training included information on the current Somos resins available for metal plating, ranging from unfilled ABS-like options such as ProtoGen™ O-XT 18420 to the highly-filled NanoTool™ composite resin (created via nanoparticle technology).
“Choice of resin certainly makes a difference in the final result,” says Somos Product Manager Brian Bauman. “In general, the stiffer the SL resin, the stiffer the metal clad composite will be. Stiffness can also be enhanced by applying a thicker metal layer to the part.
RepliForm training focused on post-processing techniques for obtaining the best metal plating results, as well as on how to adjust STL files to account for the metal plating of the part while still meeting tight tolerance specifications—something especially important for customers requiring assembled products.
“For example, assemblies with tongue and grooves normally allow for 0.006”-0.007”clearance,” says RepliForm’s owner, Sean Wise. “Adding a 0.002”-0.003”metal layer to both the tongue and grove could cause interference and needs to be adjusted for.”
Laser Reproductions is now offering Metal Clad Composites to its customers. To learn more, call 614-552-6905.