Sustainable gifts for customers – made by combining technologies
The idea of the "Spork" originated at toolcraft as a practical giveaway: a combination of fork and spoon for on-the-go. Through close collaboration between toolmaking, additive manufacturing, and injection molding, this useful utensil was successfully created.
The Starting Point:
Small gifts made in house
toolcraft had been considering making its own giveaways for a long time. The company wanted to design a small gift for trade fair visitors that would actually be useful and would ideally be used time and time again. The item would then be a continuous reminder of toolcraft and keep the brand in the minds of partners and potential customers.
The challenge:
Optimised and efficient topology
toolcraft had several requirements for the manufacturing process. Firstly, it was important to find a sustainable material so that the end product could be produced with no or as little plastic waste as possible. Secondly, manufacturing had to be cost-effective to keep the unit costs low. toolcraft also opted to optimise the topology to save on materials when making the injection mould and to ensure that mould tempering could be done conformally and as energy efficiently as possible.
The Approach:
Working together to achieve the desired result
- Searching for a suitable plastic giveaway
- Creating a team specialising in different technologies
- Selecting a sustainable, home-compostable plastic for the production process
- Designing the topology for an optimised injection mould
- Additive manufacturing and adding a wear-proof coating to the two halves of the mould
- Sampling and process development
- Running various quality tests
- Final manufacturing of the sporks
The Results:
Goal achieved with close collaboration
Thanks to the chosen mix of materials – 1.4404 steel for the main body and M2 tool steel for the wear-proof contours – toolcraft succeeded in making a durable mould efficiently. For this, the company used state-of-the-art additive manufacturing techniques. The main body was produced using laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and the contours, which are most prone to wear and tear, were given a wear-proof coating using LMD/DED technology. This hybrid production approach enables a significantly longer service life for the mould. Topology optimisation was used to save materials and reduce the weight of the mould to be tempered: 45 to 50% less weight compared to a classic cube-shaped mould. This not only reduces storage and transport costs, but also improves ergonomics during handling. The generative manufacturing process allowed the cooling channels to be placed close to the component’s contours thereby reducing energy consumption through more efficient temperature control and increasing the cycle time by 20%. If necessary, the contour that gives the mould its shape can be reworked using laser metal deposition (LMD) without the need to manufacture new inserts. toolcraft makes large quantities of its specially designed spork to give to existing and potential customers as a small gift.
Used technologies:
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