- Form 4 On The Shop Floor
Stop machining what you can print overnight.
Hours
Not weeks, from design to deployed tool
Zero
Minimum order quantity from any vendor
In-House
Full control of your tooling supply chain
On-Demand
Reprint worn tools the same shift
- The Bottleneck Nobody Budgets For
Machined tooling is expensive precisely because it's tooling
- Route A — Machined / Outsourced
The default, and the bottleneck
- Lead time : 2–3 weeks typical
- Minimum order : Often required by vendors
- Design changes : New quote, new queue
- Worn tool replacement : Back to square one
- Route B — Form 4, In-House
Print it before the meeting ends
- Lead time : Same day to next morning
- Minimum order : None — print exactly one, if that's all you need
- Design changes : Edit the file, reprint
- Worn tool replacement : Reprint from the same digital file
- Six Categories, One Printer
What actually counts as a "manufacturing aid"
Workholding
Jigs, Fixtures & Soft Jaws
Custom-fit tools that locate and secure a part for machining, welding, or assembly.
Locating
Pins, Locators & Alignment Aids
Repeatable positioning tools that keep a job accurate from the first unit to the thousandth.
Inspection
Gauges & Checking Fixtures
Purpose-built go/no-go tools that verify a part meets tolerance, on the line, without a CMM.
Protection
Guards, Covers & Masking Masters
Shields that protect a sensitive component, or a surface, from an adjacent process.
EOAT
Grippers, Brackets & Robot Tooling
End-of-arm tooling and machine components that keep automated lines running.
Handling
Movers, Mounts & Organizers
Custom carriers, holders, and brackets that keep the floor organized and parts moving.
- What To Print It In
Material recommendations for tooling duty

Tough 2000 Resin
The default for jigs, fixtures & welding set-up tools that need repeated impact resistance.

Rigid 10K Resin
High stiffness for locating pins, gauges, and tools that must resist deflection under load.

High Temp Resin
For fixtures near heat sources, thermoforming clamps, or under-hood test rigs.

ESD Resin
Static-dissipative tooling for handling sensitive electronics and PCB assemblies.
- From Idea To Installed Tool
The four-stage in-house workflow
Design or Scan
Model the tool in CAD, or 3D scan an existing part to reverse-engineer a fixture around it.
Print on Form 4
Load the matched resin and print — most tooling parts finish in under two hours.
Wash, Cure & Finish
Automated post-processing brings the part to full mechanical strength, ready for the floor.
Deploy & Archive
Install the tool and save the file to a digital inventory — reprint on demand when it wears.
- Designing Tools That Hold Up
Four rules for printed tooling that survives the floor
Constrain only what needs constraining
A fixture that locks every possible movement isn't safer — it's harder to build accurately and more likely to fight itself under load. Aim for just enough contact points to locate and hold the part reliably, no more.
Consolidate parts into one print
Where a machined fixture might need three components bolted together, a printed one can often be a single body. Fewer seams means fewer places for debris to collect and fewer failure points.
Add ribs, not bulk
Printed parts get their stiffness from geometry, not mass. Reinforcing ribs and rounded fillets add rigidity in the direction that matters without inflating print time or material cost.
Use threaded inserts, not tapped plastic
Printed threads wear quickly under repeated bolting. Brass threaded inserts or a nut pocket hold up far longer in a jig that gets clamped and unclamped every shift.
- Proof From The Floor
Where in-house tooling has already paid off
Motorsport Machining
Lathe Jigs, In-House
A gearbox component manufacturer cut jig lead time and cost by roughly 90% moving from outsourced milling to in-house SLA printing.
Automotive Welding
Robot Set-Up Fixtures
A weld-line changeover fixture that used to require reprogramming downtime was printed in three hours on a Form Series printer, ready the same shift.
Precision Assembly
Testing Brackets
A precision-instrument maker printed custom testing brackets to hold delicate assemblies securely during functional inspection.
- DOWNLOAD