Case Study: rpm — rapid product manufacturing achieves faster, lower-cost bridge to injection-molding tooling with Carbon DLS (Carbon)

Bridge to Production with Carbon DLS A Faster and More Affordable Path to Injection-Molding Tooling

rpm — rapid product manufacturing GmbH, based in Helmstedt, Germany, needed a faster, lower-cost way to move complex small-series automotive parts (like cable ducts with living hinges) from prototyping into serial production without repeated expensive tooling changes. To address long design iterations, high tooling costs, and orientation/size challenges, rpm adopted Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis (Carbon DLS) process, evaluating materials such as Carbon RPU 130 for heat resistance and optimizing for the epoxy-based Carbon EPX 82.

Using Carbon DLS, rpm redesigned the film hinge into snap-in connector assemblies and split parts for reuse, enabling injection-mold quality from the first print, half the print time/material for iterative halves, and the ability to print multiple design variants in one job. Carbon’s materials (EPX 82 is IMDS-listed) and the DLS workflow delivered clear savings and faster ramp-up—examples show project costs around €14,500 with Carbon DLS for 13 iterations versus €20,000 for 3 injection-mold iterations—and identified a sweet spot of roughly 500–2,000 parts for DLS-driven small-series production. Carbon’s solution therefore reduced time, cost, and risk while increasing design iteration capacity.

rpm

Claus Thomy

Managing Director, Sales