Rapid Prototyping Shortens Hydraulic Component Development Time

A few years ago hydraulic fluid power component manufacturers had the luxury of long lead times to develop new products. In today's competitive global market, pump and valve design engineers must be able to shorten development lead times and get new, less costly products to production in order to satisfy customer demands. This paper describes how one fluid power component manufacturer uses rapid prototyping technology to speed up the development cycle by making: fit and form models, design evaluation test samples, and tooling for prototype castings.