Electrical & Electronic Connectors
Manufacture Production-Grade Electrical and Electronic Connectors with Speed, Precision, and Material Performance
Electrical and electronic connectors are among the most demanding components to manufacture. They require exceptional dimensional accuracy, fine feature resolution, robust mechanical properties, and, increasingly, specialized material characteristics such as flame retardancy, electrical insulation, and long-term dimensional stability.
Traditional manufacturing methods often require expensive tooling, long development cycles, and significant investment before designs can be validated. For new product introductions, low-volume production, custom connectors, and design revisions, these constraints increase both cost and time-to-market.
Axtra Solutions for Electrical & Electronic Connectors combines the Lumia X1 powered by Hi-Speed SLA (HPS), validated engineering materials, optimized manufacturing workflows, and application expertise into a complete production-ready solution. Manufacturers can rapidly produce connector housings, cable management components, terminal supports, and electrical assemblies with production-quality accuracy while dramatically reducing development time and eliminating the need for traditional tooling during early production.
The Manufacturing Challenge
Connectors are deceptively complex components.
Although often small in size, they incorporate intricate geometries, thin walls, precision mating features, snap fits, retention mechanisms, and extremely tight dimensional tolerances. Even minor dimensional deviations can affect assembly, electrical contact, sealing performance, or long-term reliability.
Traditional injection molding remains the preferred manufacturing process for high-volume connector production, but developing new connectors typically requires weeks or months of tooling design and fabrication before a single production-quality part can be evaluated.
For many manufacturers, this creates significant challenges.
Engineering teams are forced to wait for tooling before validating designs.
Design revisions require expensive tooling modifications.
Low-volume products rarely justify tooling investment.
Custom connectors become prohibitively expensive.
New product introductions are delayed.
As connector designs become increasingly application-specific, manufacturers need a faster, more flexible manufacturing process that delivers production-quality parts without the cost and delay of conventional tooling.
The Axtra Solution
Axtra Solutions for Electrical & Electronic Connectors provides a validated digital manufacturing workflow designed specifically for precision electrical components.
The complete solution combines:
Rather than simply enabling connector printing, Axtra Solutions delivers a repeatable manufacturing process capable of producing highly accurate connector components suitable for functional testing, product validation, bridge manufacturing, and low-volume production.
The solution supports connector geometries that are difficult or impossible to manufacture economically using conventional methods during early product development while maintaining the precision required for demanding electrical assemblies.
Customer Value
Accelerate Connector Development
Move from CAD design to production-quality connector components in hours rather than waiting weeks for injection mold tooling.
Engineering teams can validate designs, evaluate assemblies, and complete product testing much earlier in the development cycle.
Eliminate Tooling Costs for Low Volumes
Many electrical products never reach production volumes that justify dedicated tooling.
Axtra Solutions enables economical production without investing in expensive molds, making custom connectors and specialized electrical components commercially viable.
Validate Functional Assemblies Earlier
Because connector housings are manufactured with production-quality dimensional accuracy, complete electrical assemblies can be evaluated before production tooling is commissioned.
This allows engineers to validate:
Problems are identified earlier, reducing costly redesigns later in the development process.
Manufacture Complex Geometries Without Design Constraints
Traditional manufacturing often requires connector designs to accommodate mold draft, tooling complexity, and assembly limitations.
Additive manufacturing removes many of these restrictions, allowing engineers greater design freedom while maintaining production-quality accuracy.
Produce End-Use Components
For low-volume products, industrial equipment, specialized electronics, and custom electrical systems, connectors can be manufactured directly for end-use rather than only as prototypes.
This reduces inventory requirements while enabling production on demand.
Increase Manufacturing Agility
Design updates no longer require new tooling.
Manufacturers can implement engineering changes immediately, produce revised components within hours, and respond rapidly to customer-specific requirements.
Why Hi-Speed SLA Makes the Difference
Electrical connectors demand a unique combination of dimensional precision, fine feature resolution, smooth surface finish, and repeatable manufacturing.
Hi-Speed SLA was specifically developed to deliver these characteristics at production throughput.
Unlike conventional photopolymer technologies that often require compromises between speed and accuracy, HPS combines laser precision with DLP productivity to consistently manufacture highly detailed engineering components.
For electrical connector applications, this provides several important advantages.
Exceptional Dimensional Accuracy
Connector housings rely on precise mating geometries, retention clips, alignment features, and terminal locations.
TruLayer™ technology enables highly accurate reproduction of these critical features, supporting consistent assembly and reliable component performance.
Fine Feature Resolution
Electrical connectors frequently contain small openings, thin walls, intricate locking mechanisms, cable guides, and detailed internal structures.
HPS accurately reproduces these features while maintaining excellent dimensional consistency throughout the build.
Superior Surface Finish
Smooth surfaces improve connector appearance while reducing friction during assembly and minimizing the amount of finishing required after printing.
Fine cosmetic features and molded textures are faithfully reproduced.
High Throughput
Multiple connector designs can be produced simultaneously in a single build, enabling rapid product development and economical low-volume manufacturing.
Engineering teams can evaluate multiple design iterations within days instead of weeks.
Reliable Production Consistency
Connector manufacturing requires repeatability across multiple builds.
HPS provides controlled curing and consistent process performance, producing reliable parts suitable for engineering validation and production workflows.
Qualified Materials
Electrical connector applications require materials that combine mechanical strength, dimensional stability, and electrical insulation with application-specific performance characteristics.
Axtra Solutions qualifies engineering materials that have been validated specifically for precision manufacturing applications.
LOCTITE® 3D 3843 High Tough
Axtra Solutions for Electrical and Electronic Connectors is built around LOCTITE® 3D 3843 High Tough, a validated engineering resin that combines excellent electrical insulation, dimensional precision, and mechanical durability for functional connector applications and low-volume production.
LOCTITE® 3D 3843 High Tough is optimized for electrical and electronic applications where reliable insulation, precision fit, and long-term mechanical performance are essential, enabling manufacturers to produce production-quality connector components without the cost and lead time of injection molding tooling.
Material Characteristics
Typical Applications
Ultracur3D® ST45
Axtra Solutions for Electrical and Electronic Connectors is built around Ultracur3D® ST45, a validated engineering resin from Forward AM designed for tough, durable, and dimensionally stable functional parts. Its combination of stiffness, impact resistance, and electrical insulating properties makes it well suited for connector housings and other precision electronic components.
Material Characteristics
Typical Applications
Ultracur3D® ST45 is optimized for electrical and electronic applications requiring precision, durability, and reliable electrical insulation. It enables manufacturers to rapidly produce functional connector components with injection molding-quality accuracy while eliminating tooling costs and significantly reducing product development and production lead times.
Typical Applications
Axtra Solutions for Electrical & Electronic Connectors supports a wide range of industrial applications, including:
Performance Highlights
Why Axtra Solutions
Axtra Solutions for Electrical & Electronic Connectors is more than a collection of hardware and materials. It is a validated manufacturing solution that integrates the Lumia X1, Hi-Speed SLA technology, qualified engineering materials, optimized process parameters, application expertise, and Axtra.Workflow into a repeatable production methodology.
By eliminating the traditional barriers of tooling cost, long lead times, and manufacturing complexity, manufacturers gain the flexibility to develop, validate, and produce precision electrical components faster and more economically. Whether producing custom connectors, validating new electrical assemblies, or manufacturing low-volume end-use parts, Axtra Solutions enables organizations to accelerate innovation while maintaining the quality and precision expected from production-grade components.
