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Aska Company has been developing products using molds called development molds in order to speed up the development process.
In this issue, we would like to introduce our Rapid Mold production process.
Please note that the development molds are used for our own AS series products and are not applicable to the process of commissioned development of customer's products.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

What are development molds?

Development molds are simple molds that enable product development at low cost and in a short period of time.
It is possible to use actual molding resin for molding, which enables early proposal of products with shared functions and textures with customers and facilitates smooth development.
Our company uses a common base mold and a mold structure that allows replacement of only the product part, which makes it possible to mold products of different shapes and sizes in a short period of time.
We also have two types of development molds, Agile Mold and Rapid Mold, which are used differently depending on the application of the product.

Metal mold Rapid Mold

The advantage of rapid molding is that samples can be taken with product surface conditions and dimensions similar to those of molded products made with mass production molds.
Applications for rapid mold products include dimensional and functional evaluations, as well as testing on the customer's production line.

Rapid Molded AS5 Spout and Cap

AS5 Spout Mold

AS5 Cap Mold

Equipment used for Rapid Mold processing

We use different machines according to their characteristics for speedy and optimal processing.

　Machining

Machining is a process that uses a machining center, a piece of equipment that can perform complex cutting operations such as cutting and drilling in succession.
The object is fixed and the blade is rotated for machining.
Machining is mainly used for mold bases and product parts, as well as electrode fabrication for electrical discharge machining.

Machined molds

Machining center

　Electrical discharge machining (die-sinking electrical discharge)

For steel materials and shapes that cannot be processed with a machining center, or when multiple pieces of the same shape are required, machining is performed using an electric discharge machine.
EDM is a machine that uses copper electrodes tailored to the required shape and uses the heat generated by arc discharge to melt the metal for processing.

Electric discharge machine (left) and electrode (right)

in process

　Rotary disk machining (NC rotary disk)

Rotary disk is a machining method that performs cutting while rotating the material itself.
It is used to process rotating body shapes such as screw cores and core pins.

In addition to this, we also make full use of general-purpose machine tools to produce molds for development.