Accurate and Durable Molds for Prototypes with Ultracur3D® RG 3280

Advanced materials accelerate the production of custom 3D printed inserts for injection overmolding in data transmission cable manufacturing

MD ELEKTRONIK was looking for a real-world solution to provide data transmission cables to their automotive customers. A common issue they encountered was that simulations often failed to accurately predict the behavior of flexible overmolded parts.

In collaboration with Forward AM and ProductionToGo, MD ELEKTRONIK used Ultracur3D® RG 3280 to produce 3D printed mold inserts. This resulted in fewer mold iterations, lower production costs, and a faster time to market for new products.

Project Breakdown

Industry & Application
Automotive

Product
Ultracur3D® RG 3280

Technology
LCD

Partners
ProductionToGo
Nexa3D

Key numbers

Production time slashed from 6-10 weeks to just 3-4 days
8 mold components could be printed in just 2 hours
Achieved an impressive €5000 in cost savings

MD ELEKTRONIK Waldkraiburg | Telefon | Adresse

MD ELEKTRONIK is a leading automotive supplier with over 30 years of industry experience. They specialize in customized data cables and electronic modules that ensure fast, secure, and reliable data transmission in vehicles. Their products are integrated into over 350 car models worldwide, with more than 60 OEMs relying on their solutions.

With over 6,000 employees across locations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, China, Mexico, and the USA, MD ELEKTRONIK is well-positioned to support customers globally in shaping the future of mobility.

The Challenge

Speeding Up the Development and Production of Highly Accurate Overmoldings

The prototypes required for this project needed to be overmolded in series material and include functional electronics and contacts for data transmission cables. After comparing several different materials, resin 3D printing with Ultracur3D® RG 3280 was found to be the number one choice to meet the project requirements. This material offered excellent printability on Nexa 3D printers at 405 nm, with high imaging accuracy. The resulting printed mold inserts offered high strength, stiffness, thermal stability, and pressure resistance. In just 90 minutes, over 60 high-quality molded parts were produced, with the mold inserts showing little to no wear.

The Result

Cutting Production Time and Costs

With development speed accelerated, MD ELEKTRONIK was able to use additive manufacturing with Ultracur3D® RG 3280 to reduce technical risk, making it a breakthrough technology that’s now the standard in their rapid prototyping portfolio.

The use of AM technologies enabled MD ELEKTRONIK to quickly prototype functional electronic components from 3D imaging to finished product in just three to four days. This approach also led to an impressive cost reduction, saving over €5000 in production overheads.

“The technology achieved the requirements for early prototype production and enabled us to check our product geometry and discover potential failures before we invested in an expensive mold. This meant we could eliminate production defects in the steel mold, therefore reducing the number of correction and optimization cycles.”

Markus Kaaserer, Expert Techno Polymers, MD ELEKTRONIK