Medical product designers are often challenged to make precision mechanical or structural parts out of metal for prototypes or small production lots. Electroforms made of thin layers of metal formed on a dissolving mandrel have long provided designers with unusual shapes. In recent years, electroforms have solved a variety of problems for medical equipment designers seeking strong, thin-walled, precision metal parts. Electroforms have provided flexible joints, hermetic seals, electromagnetic shields, and other special functions. With knowledgeable technical support, medical equipment designers can use them to meet unusual requirements and short deadlines without high tooling costs. Equally important, medical engineers can use electroforms to achieve shapes, properties and functions that are available no other practical way. Often, one-piece electroforms replace stampings, machined parts, complex assemblies, or brazements and weldments.