Critical dimension parts Cosmetic appearance parts Color matches Critical material properties. If your design includes mechanical devices such as snaplocks. Prototype tools are can produce hundreds of parts and, if shrinkage is not a factor, a variety of materials can be tested. Modifying a prototype tool cost substantially less than the cost to change a production tool. Make your changes in this development phase, not after the parts go into production.
Molded prototypes give the actual look and feel of the finished product.
Their physical properties and appearance will closely match that of a production part. Molds can be hand operated , semi-automatic or fully automatic . Hand operated molds require an operator to physically remove the mold from the press and disassemble it to remove the molded part. They are typically single cavities, inexpensive and fast to produce. Parts may required multiple post operations to meet design requirements.