Case Study: Midwest Prototyping achieves 42% reduction in SLA mold weight with Materialise Magics' honeycomb structures

Midwest Prototyping Reduced the Weight of SLA Molds by 42% Using Honeycomb Structures

Midwest Prototyping, an ISO 9001:2015 certified service bureau in Wisconsin, needed to cut material and printing time for SLA master patterns without sacrificing accuracy or part functionality. As a beta tester, they worked with Materialise and tried the new honeycomb structure feature in Materialise Magics to address the weakness that traditional hollowing introduces.

Using Materialise Magics’ honeycomb conversion, Midwest Prototyping converted large-plane designs into internal honeycomb lattices, reducing the weight of several SLA molds by 42.38% and lowering material usage and print time while maintaining strength and accuracy. The results, enabled by Materialise, delivered measurable cost and time savings and demonstrated applicability across multiple 3D printing technologies.

Midwest Prototyping

Alfredo Jijón

AM Specialist