Nexa3D and Wilson Sporting Goods Join Forces on Digital Tooling

Nexa3D announced today at Rapid + TCT 2023 a new project with Wilson Sporting Goods Co.’s Acceleration Center that will expand access to digital tooling solutions through combining the Freeform Injection Molding (FIM) process and specialized xMOLD resin, which can create functional molding tools compatible with thousands of injection molding materials, according to the two companies.

In a deal finalized in March 2023, Nexa3D acquired its long-time partner Addifab, along with its Freeform Injection Molding process, which couples the design freedom of 3D printing with mechanical characteristics and performance of injection molding. The digital tooling process uses xMOLD resin to print injection molding tools that are compatible with thousands of off-the-shelf injection molding materials, enabling ability to design, iterate, and validate using final-grade production materials.

“Because we can iterate so much quicker, our R&D team can afford to fail fast and innovate, bringing a higher level of creativity to the process,” says Glen Mason, advanced innovation leader at Wilson Advanced Manufacturing. “On top of that, these tools are compatible with final production materials; the value of prototyping quickly and cost-effectively in final grade materials is a real game-changer here. We couldn’t be more excited to strengthen our working relationship with Nexa3D by expanding access to FIM within the product development and manufacturing community so they can take advantage of this revolutionary digital tooling process.”

The new capabilities give Nexa3D’s current and prospective customers the ability to benchmark and qualify the FIM digital tooling process before making any capital investments.

“We are pleased to see the benefits of FIM realized by the R&D team at Wilson and look forward to enabling other customers looking to qualify and integrate the process into their own product design and manufacturing workflow,” says Kevin McAlea, chief operating officer at Nexa3D.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.