lkprototype’s rapid mold service covers aluminum mold, elastic mold and 3D printing mold technology, reducing the traditional mold design cycle to 12-20 weeks to 3-7 days. Taking an example of a new energy vehicle battery box cover mold project, the 7075-T6 aluminum alloy mold (hardness HRC 40-45) is utilized to complete the cavity processing within 5 days (tolerance ±0.03 mm), provide the first injection sample, and the mold cost is reduced by 62% (from 48,000 US dollars to 18,000 US dollars). It also endures 5,000-10,000 injection cycles (the industry average aluminum mold is 3,000 cycles). According to the data of the International Journal of Mold Technology in 2023, its surface roughness of aluminum mold Ra≤0.4 microns, optimized water cooling saves the injection cycle by 28% (production time for a single piece is reduced from 45 seconds to 32 seconds), and efficiency of customer’s preparation for mass production increases by 76%.
For trial small batch production, lkprototype’s silicone soft mold technology can make a 24-hour fast delivery and the cost for a single mold set as low as $800-1,500 (the cost for steel molds is about $25,000). In the TWS headset housing of the consumer electronics enterprise, the silicone mold has been utilized 80 times (industry average, 50 times), and with the vacuum casting process, 300 PA+GF30 material samples have been produced, with the bending strength up to 180 MPa (40% improvement over the conventional ABS), and the yield increased from 88% to 99%. The tech reduced customer validation cycles by 90% (six weeks to four days) and eliminated $120,000 in R&D costs.
Within the healthcare field, lkprototype creates microfluidic chip prototypes via 3D printing of molds (Stainless Steel 316L) with a channel width as small as 0.2 mm (traditional etching process minimum of 0.5 mm) and surface accuracy of Ra≤6 microns. In 2022, the cooperative case of a company for in vitro diagnosis shows that its mold design iteration efficiency is increased by 300% (5 designs can be tested every week), the pass rate of biocompatibility tests is increased from 75% to 98%, and the product registration cycle is shortened by 6 months by ISO 13485 certification.
lkprototype’s rapid mold service also involves AI simulation systems to predict and correct 90% of mold design defects (such as shrinkage holes and weld marks) within 8 hours. By the mold temperature deviation control through design of the cooling water to ±2 ° C (historic mold ±8 ° C) in the warpage deformation improvement through Moldflow simulation in a residential appliance company’s air conditioner deflator project, and increasing product surface gloss level to 98%, it had decreased from 1.2 mm to 0.3 mm (better than industry’s 0.5 mm specification). According to the “Intelligent Manufacturing White Paper” figures, the technology reduces customers’ mold changes by 83%, and the expense of creating a single set of molds is reduced by 35%.
For extremely large parts, lkprototype utilizes the modular mold method (the size of a single module is 1.5×1.5 meters). For example, hydraulic valve body (total weight 2.3 tons) project of a building machinery company can correct the assembly error to ±0.05 mm by split CNC machining. And using high thermal conductivity beryllium copper inserts (thermal conductivity of 210 W/m·K) to cut the injection cycle to 120 seconds/piece (original design 180 seconds), the production capacity of the customer per year increased to 150,000 pieces (original production capacity of 80,000 pieces), return on investment (ROI) of 215%.
LKprototype’s rapid tooling technology has saved its clients worldwide more than $120 million in development costs and enhanced time-to-market by 58% on average, according to the World Bank’s 2024 report. For example, on the carbon fiber hub mold project of a drone manufacturer, it extended the mold life to 80,000 times (industry standard 30,000 times) by tungsten carbide plating (hardness HRA 92), and achieved 72 hours of delivery, helping customers grab market share, and revenue in the first year increased by 320%.