Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) Process of Impellers Used in Injection Mold Temperature Controller Based on Reverse Engineering and MSLA Additive Manufacturing

Procuring discontinued parts and maintaining aging machinery is critical to minimizing downtime. This study proposes an on-demand maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) process for a discontinued impeller, a core component of plastic injection mold temperature controllers. Deformed impeller geometry was acquired via an industrial handheld three-dimensional (3D) scanner and reverse-engineered into a 3D computer-aided design (CAD) model. A prototype was fabricated using Masked Stereolithography Apparatus (MSLA) additive manufacturing with high-temperature resistant resin. Dimensional accuracy was verified against the reference CAD model via 3D scanning and best-fit alignment. Precision grinding resolved minor thermal shrinkage deviations in the assembly shaft, securing required tolerances. This strategy integrates 3D scanning, reverse engineering, and additive manufacturing, reducing procurement lead time to under 24 h.