Dear RP-friends,
A few weeks ago I posted a question regarding licensing costs of Indirect
Tooling technologies as Keltool, Swiftool and Polysteel. For those who are
interested I like to summarise the responses I have received and add some
additional information coming from the Terry Wohlers report 2000.
* Both Keltool and Polysteel didn't respond themselves. Swiftool did.
* Swiftool.
They (Nick.Osborn@swiftech.co.uk) posted their response also to this list
but to be complete in this mail see read the main points of their answer:
* Swiftool 10 System 150 * 150 mm £34.000 (TW-report: $54.000)
* Swiftool 50 System 200 * 250 mm £74.000
* Swiftool 200 System 400 * 500 mm £119.000
* Prices Include press, mixer, training, installation & starter pack
of materials -everything needed for a turn-key user.
* Ten users at this moment
* TW-report: material $ 110- $ 150 per liter.
* TW-report: thermoplastics and rubbers possible to mold, this year
die-casting and ceramic parts
* Keltool.
One of the license holders responded (bfox@rapid-design.com
<mailto:bfox@rapid-design.com> ). They purchased the R&D facility from 3D
Systems in St. Paul MN. They stated:
* First year licensee costs $150.000
* 4 more years at $ 57.500 a year
* In total $380.000 and then the license is paid
* Only other costs are the materials that has to be bought directly
from 3D Systems
* TW-report: inserts have been used for plastic injection moulding,
die cast zinc and die cast of aluminium
* TW-report: 6 licensees. (2 in Germany, 2 in the USA and 1 in Italy)
* Polysteel
One (in the past) interested user of Polysteel responded. This person was
not so positive about Polysteel and the company behind it. (In this case I
will not mention any names, as you can understand). The main points that
they found were:
* Licensing fees start at $ 175.000 and go to $ 350.000.
* Test mold broke quickly, not a difficult shape
* The contactperson at DynamicTooling didn't appear capable of
providing the required technical support
* Even the draft of a licensing agreement was hard to get, also other
details weren't there
* After a proposal form the interested user to be a beta test
DynamicTooling never ever responded.
* The interested user knows at least two other organisations that
experienced similar "unprofessional" treatment.
* TW-report: glass-filled nylons, ABS and wax.
* TW-report: 3 licensees, no names mentioned by Polysteel
* TE-report: No licensing anymore, only in-house use.
That what I have received. Also thanks to Joel Segal University of
Nottingham (epxjis1@nottingham.ac.uk) and Neil Hopkinson (nhopkins@dmu.ac.uk
<mailto:nhopkins@dmu.ac.uk> ) who provided me with some general information.
To be honest I myself expected more response on my question. Especially from
KELTOOL en POLYSTEEL themselves and happy users of these 3 indirect Rapid
Tooling Technologies. If they are out there and reading this please respond
so that we can share and enjoy. I'am very interested to hear more details
and experiences on these tooling technologies
All the best from a rainy Holland (were we are waiting for the summer for
already three months)
Jan Willem
Jan Willem Gunnink
Project Manager
TNO Industrial Technology
Production Development Division
Department of Industrial Prototyping
P.O.Box 5073
2600 GB Delft
The Netherlands
Tel:+31-15-2608747 Fax:+31-15-2608725
E-mail: j.gunnink@ind.tno.nl <mailto:j.gunnink@ind.tno.nl>
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