US 12,221,711 B2
Method for accelerated production of electroform tooling inserts
Ryan Eugene Stoneberg, Aurora, CO (US); and Kevin Lee Ballard, Aurora, CO (US)
Assigned to SHARKLET TECHNOLOGIES, INC., Aurora, CO (US)
Appl. No. 17/618,631
Filed by Sharklet Technologies, Inc., Aurora, CO (US)
PCT Filed Jun. 15, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/037719
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 13, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/252448, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 17, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/860,940, filed on Jun. 13, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0235480 A1, Jul. 28, 2022
Int. Cl. C25D 1/10 (2006.01); C25D 5/00 (2006.01); B33Y 10/00 (2015.01); B33Y 70/00 (2020.01); B33Y 80/00 (2015.01)
CPC C25D 1/10 (2013.01) [C25D 5/605 (2020.08); B33Y 10/00 (2014.12); B33Y 70/00 (2014.12); B33Y 80/00 (2014.12)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
growing a shim by disposing a mandrel having a textured surface in an electrolytic bath, where the shim contains a negative image of the textured surface formed by electrolytic deposition of a metal;
affixing the shim working-side down on a reference plane using a fixture after growing the shim, to reduce stress-related warp or bow out of the shim prior to optically scanning the shim;
optically scanning the shim to reverse engineer a geometry of a non-working surface, where reverse engineering a geometry of the non-working surface includes developing a profile of the non-working surface and the thickness of the shim; and
adding a material to the non-working surface of the shim via additive manufacturing to form a tool insert.