investment casting Archives - Perfect 3D Printing Filament

3D Systems: Augmenting Your Workflow with Traditional and Additive Manufacturing

Combining Old and New Technology

Remember the days when people thought that we would all end up with our own home desktop 3D printers to make anything our hearts desired and would never have to leave the house to buy consumer goods again? While I’m not saying this future isn’t still in the cards (imagine never having to get in another shopping cart lane battle at the store!), most people have realized this might be just wishful thinking and are focusing on other uses for additive manufacturing – such as combining the technology with traditional forms of manufacturing.

Just because you’re interested in 3D printing doesn’t mean you have to completely forget about all of the existing manufacturing technologies – you can complement your workflow, learn something new, and add that skill to your wheelhouse. And try as you might, it’s not always economically feasible or the right choice for your business to switch completely over to 3D printing. So one more time for the people in the back – by combining conventional manufacturing with 3D printing, companies can truly augment and speed up their workflows.

3D Systems knows a little something about this, as the company offers both additive and subtractive manufacturing capabilities through its On Demand manufacturing services.

“Our online 3D printing portal was designed by engineers for engineers,” the 3D Systems On Demand webpage states. “Our goal is to make the process of ordering 3D printed parts and prototypes the easiest in the industry.”

This is what sets 3D Systems apart from other service bureaus in the market. In fact, the company just released an eBook, titled “The Benefits of Traditional and Additive Manufacturing from a Single Source,” that’s all about combining 3D printing with other types of manufacturing it offers, such as CNC machining, investment casting, injection molding, urethane casting, sheet metal, die casting, etc. The campaign for 3D Systems’ new eBook recently went live, and the book itself discusses different ways to combine additive and traditional manufacturing for the optimal effect, in addition to using your project budget in the most efficient way, speeding up time to market, and the best ways to fulfill design goals.

3D Systems On Demand service bureau offers traditional injection molding for low-volume projects, and most commercially available thermoplastics from production-grade tooling are available. Nearly 20 different materials are available, with ten finish options, including Light Texture, Mirror, and Color-Matching. A urethane casting service is also available for rapid prototyping purposes, with a wide array of materials and three different finishes offered.

“One of the greatest benefits of the Cast Urethane process is the ability to over-mold existing parts or hardware with a second material,” the website states.

Learn more about the traditional Capabilities such as Cast Urethane in the new eBook.

While you can visit many vendors to receive external prototyping and production services, there aren’t too many like 3D Systems that offer a full range of options in both traditional and additive methods. For example, less than a year ago, the company released its ProJet® MJP 2500 IC RealWax 3D printer, which lets existing investment casting operators switch to additive manufacturing for their patterns, using 3D Systems’ MJP 3D printing technology. In addition, its VisiJet® M2 ICast (MJP) material is wax, which means it will work within the existing foundry without requiring any updates or changes to furnaces or temperatures.

Four years ago, 3D Systems also highlighted its digital molding technology for the first time. This is a scalable 3D printing process – backed by the company’s configurable Figure 4® technology – that lets you do tool-less production, and is a good alternative for low-volume plastic part production.

3D Systems’ Figure 4®

Confederate Motors, which has been designing and manufacturing bespoke motorcycles in small batches for over two decades, has been collaborating with 3D Systems On Demand since 2014 in an effort to convert 140 different designs into prototypes and production parts for its P51 Combat Fighter. 3D Systems provides a one-stop shop for Confederate Motors’ motorcycle parts, including everything from the intake manifold and swing arm parts to the front and back fenders and the key to start up the motorcycle.

“With the exception of some engine components, wiring, wheels, tires and lighting, 3D Systems makes every part of the Fighter. We save a tremendous amount of time and hassle by being able to consolidate part production with one primary vendor. Parts go together better coming from the same vendor, and we can be assured that the part finish of everything will match,” said Jordan Cornille, a designer at Confederate Motors.

“We like to move quickly in our decision-making processes and design quickly in order to offer our customers as many solutions as possible within a certain time frame. We don’t produce thousands of copies of each model, and 3D Systems allows us to change designs frequently without committing to thousands of dollars worth of tooling.”

3D Systems used plenty of CNC machining to make the parts for the P51 Combat Fighter motorcycle; according to the 3D Systems On Demand site, this subtractive technology “is the best choice for rapid prototyping of high-quality metal and plastic parts” that need an extremely high degree of dimensional accuracy. The service bureau offers a variety of different materials and finishes for CNC machining and promises a standard delivery time of 1-2 weeks, based on the order.

As noted in its new eBook, the company also offers integrated additive and traditional manufacturing approaches, which is perfect for projects that need to combine the ability to manufacture complex shapes at a faster rate of speed with high precision. Room Temperature Vulcanization (RTV) is just one of these integrated processes – it uses 3D printed masters and silicone molds to produce high-quality parts in low to mid-volume batches, without having to rely on expensive hard tooling. The benefits of RTV include a large material selection, a shorter lead time, and the ability to over-mold existing hardware and parts with an additional material.

“When the 3D Systems On Demand service bureau was established several years ago, the company expanded its expertise and resources through strategic acquisitions, not only for 3D printing and additive manufacturing, but for traditional approaches as well,” the eBook states. “3D Systems On Demand now has a worldwide network of facilities to locally service companies that need a stable, reliable, well-resourced and uniquely experienced partner.”

To learn more about the wide variety of additive and traditional manufacturing processes that 3D Systems offers through its On Demand service bureau, check out the company’s new eBook, or contact us for more details.

[Images: 3D Systems]

The post 3D Systems: Augmenting Your Workflow with Traditional and Additive Manufacturing appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

SLA 3D Printing: Chinese Researchers Create Strong Ceramic Molds with Non-Aqueous Gelcasting

In ‘Rapid Fabrication of High-Performance CaO-Based Integral Ceramic Mold by Stereolithography and Non-Aqueous Gelcasting,’ Chinese researchers from Xi’an Jiaotong University explore 3D printing of better ceramic molds for investment casting. These are extremely important tools in manufacturing for a variety of applications, and mainly for casting structures that are complex and require internal cavities. Most are produced out of silica or alumina with good results, but not when used with active alloys that result in an inferior finish. Here, the authors search for affordable, accessible materials to fabricate ceramic molds that still possess the thermal stability and collapsibility required.

Calcium oxide, or CaO, is the center of focus in this study for a material that would be suitable for the ceramic core of a mold. It offers:

Reaction-resistance to molten active alloys
Ease of dissolution
Similar thermal expansion coefficient to those of superalloys

Morphology and particle size distribution of the CaO powder.

Susceptibility to water is a major issue with CaO, however, limiting its uses, along with inferior mechanical properties and low density. The researchers experimented with SLA 3D printing and gelcasting, which offers a unique method for creating ceramics via in-situ solidification. The more typical aqueous gelcasting was not a possibility due to hydration issues, but the authors were aware of previous experiments with non-aqueous procedures.

“Tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) has been selected as the solvent due to its low surface tension and high saturation vapor pressure, and the green body can be dried easily and with little shrinkage,” reported the authors.

CaO powder was combined with a pre-mixed solution and then the slurry was poured into a resin mold 3D printed on a SPS600B Rapid Prototyping Machine.

“The green body was subsequently placed into a vacuum freeze-dryer (Beijing Songyuan Huaxing Technology Development Co., Ltd., Beijing, China) with a freezing temperature of −40 °C, shelf temperature of 0 °C, and pressure of 10 Pa for 48 h. Finally, an integral CaO-based ceramic mold was obtained after sintering at 1400 °C for 3 h.,” explained the researchers in their study.

Schematic diagram of the integral ceramic mould manufacturing process.

The researchers were able to create a stronger slurry with some adjustment, along with gelation. Cracks were a major concern too, so temperature and heating rate had to be managed accordingly:

“There were no cracks in the CaO-based ceramic crucibles when the heating rate was 0.5 °C/min or 1 °C/min, whereas there were obvious cracks in the crucibles when the heating rate was greater than 1.5 °C/min. Although the ceramic mold did not crack with a heating rate of 0.5 °C /min, the heating rate is too low to facilitate efficient and economical production rates. To balance the quality, efficiency and energy consumption of manufacturing, 1.0 °C/min was considered the most suitable heating rate for pre-sintering the CaO-based ceramic molds,” reported the researchers.

Pre-sintering and sintering were also rigorously managed to control shrinkage, resulting in a low rate of 0.6% and a relatively high high-temperature (1200 °C) bending strength of 8.22 MPa.

“Compared to the injection molding process, the process described in this paper is more efficient for the fabrication of molds with complex structures and cores. The fabrication process of the CaO-based ceramic mold developed in this study is ideal for the rapid manufacturing of active metal parts with complex cavities,” said the researchers. “The process is more suitable for the rapid manufacturing of single-piece or small-batch production than the mass production due to the low efficiency of SLA. The control mechanism and method of near-zero shrinkage and the casting performance of CaO-based mold still need to be considered in further study.”

In a world still held undeniably connected between conventional methods of manufacturing and the mind-blowing progressive, the two commonly intersect—and 3D printing is often used today for making molds so that users can go on to make multiple objects quickly, and often with materials not supported by 3D printing, yet. And although the innovations brought forth by 3D printing are often staggering in their novelty as well as functionality, users around the world have been on a steep learning curve, driven to make one powerful improvement over another.

Find out more about other 3D printed molds such as those used to make elaborate metal architectural structures, glass molds, and PDMS molds for microfluidic designs. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

Images of CaO-based parts with different pre-sintering heating rates: (a) 0.5 °C/min, (b) 1.0 °C/min, (c) 1.5 °C/min, and (d) 2.0 °C/min.

[Source / Images: ‘Rapid Fabrication of High-Performance CaO-Based Integral Ceramic Mold by Stereolithography and Non-Aqueous Gelcasting’]

MetalMaker 3D launches rapid prototyping service for 3D printed metal parts

MetalMaker 3D, a Connecticut-based start-up, has launched a rapid prototyping service integrating 3D printing with investment casting. Aimed at creating functional metal parts, the service has been launched as a more cost-effective alternative to Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS). “By combining additive manufacturing with investment casting, we get the best of both worlds: the design freedom, customizability, […]

MetalMaker 3D Launching Rapid Prototyping Service for Metal 3D Printed Parts On Demand

Tomorrow, North America’s largest metal forming, fabricating, welding, and finishing event, FABTECH, will begin at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Many industry announcements will be made at the trade show, including one from advanced manufacturing startup MetalMaker 3D. The Connecticut-based company has just launched its new rapid prototyping service for on-demand 3D printing of metal parts. The process, which integrates investment casting with 3D printing, is said to be a more practical alternative to direct metal laser sintering, or DMLS, 3D printing.

“Until now, there has been a clear divide between the promise of metal additive manufacturing and reality of the types of metal parts that can practically be used in industry,” Eric Sammut, the CEO of MetalMaker 3D, told 3DPrint.com. “We are bridging that gap and offering a solution that maintains the performance of traditional manufacturing while delivering on the promise of additive manufacturing.”

Backed by seed accelerator Techstars and Stanley Black & Decker, MetalMaker 3D offers an industry-compatible solution for 3D printing metal parts that addresses many limitations of DMLS. Because parts made with DMLS 3D printing don’t have the same material properties as traditionally manufactured components, they are often also too expensive to use for the purposes of prototyping. But, MetalMaker 3D claims that it can offer truly isotropic metal parts, which are up to ten times cheaper than parts made with DMLS, with just one week of lead time.

Sammut explained, “Our goal is to enable manufacturers to use this additive pattern investment casting process in-house to produce custom metal parts in less than 24 hours.

“By combining additive manufacturing with investment casting, we get the best of both worlds: the design freedom, customizability, and rapid iteration of additive, along with the consistent mechanical, dimensional, and material properties of metal casting.”

The startup’s process can make functional metal parts with the design freedom inherent to 3D printing, while also providing the “isotropic mechanical and dimensional properties” that occur with high precision casting.

Currently, MetalMaker 3D is developing small-scale foundry systems for in-house investment casting so manufacturers can use the process for prototyping and low-volume production of complex metal parts, and is already working with several manufacturers, including partner Stanley, on real-world case studies. But, at FABTECH tomorrow, the startup will officially launch its rapid prototyping service, which involves working closely with its manufacturing customers to “refine their commercial product offering.”

While MetalMaker 3D does plan to expand its range of material options in the future, it will begin by offering rapid prototyping for aluminum parts with the aluminum 356 casting alloy – one of the most widely used in both the aerospace and automotive industries. In addition, the startup will also be offering optional T6 heat treatments as part of its new prototyping service.

Sammut said, “We can match the alloy, process, and heat treatment to create functional metal parts that are indistinguishable from commercially manufactured components.”

MetalMaker 3D will be running its prototyping service at the same time it works to continue developing its product offering, so its manufacturing customers can complete the process in-house. To request quotes and order custom 3D printed metal parts through the startup’s new on-demand rapid prototyping service, just fill out the quote form to receive a response within 48 hours…once FABTECH is over, of course.

If you will be attending the trade show in Georgia this week, visit MetalMaker 3D at Booth B5642 in the Additive Pavilion.

Discuss this news and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

3D Systems releases ProJet MJP 2500 IC 3D printer for investment casting

3D Systems has released the ProJet MJP 2500 IC, a wax 3D printer for investment casting (IC). An ideal choice for customized metal parts, and low volume production, the system takes only a fraction of time and cost to produce 100% wax patterns, compared to traditional methods. Mike Stanicek, Vice President of Product Management at […]

3D Systems Releases the ProJet MJP 2500 IC RealWax for Investment Casting

3D Systems today announced the release of the ProJet MJP 2500 IC RealWax. This 3D printer is a digital foundry solution which lets existing investment casting operators switch to 3D printing for their patterns using MJP 3D printing. 3D Systems has implemented an entire investment casting solution along with the system including materials, machines, and software. By integrating software more workflows can also be automated and parts can be optimized. Injection molded tools are also not needed anymore. Overall 3D printing patterns should speed up the casting process. Traditional investment casting patterns are often laborious and require several manufacturing steps. 3D printing can reduce the number of steps taken to make a pattern and the overall cost. By using VisiJet M2 ICast the steps foundries have to take to adopt 3D printing are also comparatively facile. The VisiJet material is wax so it will work within the existing foundry and no updates and changes to furnaces or temperatures are needed to handle the material.

In commissioned research for one part, “cost comparison analysis conducted by Mueller Additive Manufacturing Solutions, a pattern tool for a mechanical cam cost $6,050 while the 3D printed equivalent pattern cost less than $25 – with the only lead time being the short time to print the pattern.”

Such calculations would be geometry and part size dependent of course but in general, we can say that by switching to 3D printing cost and time savings should be considerable.

Al Hinchey, 3D print manager, Invest Cast, Inc. stated that,

“We are able to produce parts that were previously not able to be produced using traditional wax injection molding. Additionally, the part quality, surface finish and accuracy have allowed us to move more of our production to this product. Finally, the complexity of parts that we can now produce has enabled new functionality that we can offer our customers,”

3DPrint.com interviewed Mike Stanicek, Vice President, Product Management, Plastics, 3D Systems to find out more about this development.

If I’m a traditional investment casting company unfamiliar with 3D Printing what would I need to learn and what equipment would I need to implement this?

“The beauty of the ProJet MJP 2500 IC 3D printing solution is that it 3D prints patterns using wax. That means a typical foundry will have the experience and skills necessary to quickly adopt the workflow associated with the 2500 IC and transform their foundry. There is no need for the operator to learn new processes for building patterns onto trees, investing those patterns, melting out the wax or preheating of the investments. The printer is plug-and-play, and as one of our beta customers said “it was unboxed, set-up and printing in 5 hours.” The ProJet MJP 2500 IC comes installed with 3D Sprint software which simplifies the steps of turning geometry into a pattern that can be printed on the 2500 IC without the need for an expensive 3D print preparation program. Finally, simple post-processing removes the support material that was generated during the printing process. 3D Systems provides detailed instructions regarding the steps and equipment to successfully carry out this process step. The operator can easily remove the majority of the support wax and then place the pattern in a heated IPA bath for about 30 minutes. After that, it is ready to be used to develop the casting shells.”

How can it decrease the cast parts weight?

“Design for additive techniques enable the optimization of a part in CAD so it is much lighter weight but would typically be regarded as ‘unmoldable’ using traditional pattern production. 3D printed casting patterns, however, can deliver that design optimization into the investment casting workflow because they are built layer by layer using the additive process. This gives flexibility to reduce the amount of material used while improving strength-to-weight ratios and makes these kinds of designs viable for casting.”

How will this let me save costs?

The ProJet MJP 2500 IC creates patterns in a fraction of the time and cost compared to
traditional pattern production.

By 3D printing the patterns, the time needed to design and fabricate a mold is
eliminated. The traditional process typically takes weeks to accomplish. With the
ProJet 2500 IC, first part can be achieved in hours or days.

The designer can try multiple design iterations without having to incur the expense
of time and money to make each mold. This allows almost real-time design iteration.

Finally, the foundry does not need to account for tool storage. When a customer uses
traditional molds, they must be stored until they are used again which necessitates
an additional cost the foundry must incur. In a digital foundry, the mold is a digital
file stored in a server room without maintenance, storage, or human capital cost.

Will this speed up my investment casting process?

“Yes, by removing the time to design and manufacture a mold, a foundry can reduce time to
first part by several weeks. This is a significant competitive advantage. For the foundry, this
can also help generate additional revenue as a premium, quick-turn service for customers.”

What post processing does the 3D Printed part need?

“With the ProJet MJP 2500 IC, post-processing is quite simple. Typical post-processing includes a manual “de-bulking” of the support wax which requires minimal effort as the wax is designed to be removed easily. Once that is complete, the wax pattern is soaked in a
heated IPA bath to remove any remaining support wax. The time in the bath is geometry-dependent but for most patterns, it will take 30 minutes or less.”

Will this change buy to fly ratios for me?

“The ProJet MJP 2500 IC is already changing the way foundries operate, dramatically speeding time to first part and reducing overall total cost of operation (TCO). 3D Systems has developed a TCO model which shows the impact and breakeven analysis of typical wax pattern parts. While each part is different, the basic rule of thumb is 300 parts using 3 cubic inches of material or less will be cheaper to print than mold. In addition, by shaving weeks off the time to first part, additional savings result by achieving the first part faster without the expense and time required to build a traditional mold. A digital workflow enables foundries to achieve higher quality parts, and faster time to market while exploring.”

Formlabs Introduces New Castable Wax Resin for 3D Printing Jewelry

Formlabs has built its success not only on its high-quality 3D printers, the SLA Form 2 and the SLS Fuse 1, but its wide variety of materials, to which the company is constantly adding. It introduced two new resins at the beginning of the year, then followed up with a novel ceramic resin just a couple of months ago. Today, Formlabs has announced that its latest resin, Castable Wax Resin, is now shipping.

The jewelry market is a competitive one, and more and more jewelers are turning to 3D printing to cast their pieces rather than crafting them by hand or using older techniques to create their casting molds. 3D printing is much faster than any other jewelry manufacturing method, and while the market is full of attractive options for jewelry 3D printers and jewelry casting resins, Formlabs has always been one of the leaders in this particular market – partially because of the time-tested quality of its printers, and partially because of the many material options it presents.

Castable Wax Resin is a wax-filled material designed for direct investment casting, with zero ash content and clean burnout. It’s capable of 3D printing custom parts that are suitable for both try-ons and final pieces. Castable Wax Resin combines a smooth finish with increased part strength and precise print settings for sharp detail in the finished pieces. The material clearly displays fine features such as raised text, filigree wires and meshes, and detailed pavé with no visible layer lines.

“Before bringing 3D printing in-house, I’ve outsourced waxes to be printed, only to discover I needed thicker or thinner dimensions in the first design,” said Andrew Goldstein, Vice President of Zina Sterling Silver. “I’m super excited about the new Castable Wax Resin, the detail was outstanding in the initial prints and the material was so much easier to invest and cast.”

In terms of retail value, Asia Pacific is the largest global market for jewelry, and Formlabs worked closely with jewelry manufacturing partners in China, Japan and India to make sure that Castable Wax Resin could reliably print complex pavé pieces and filigree bracelets, which are especially popular in this region. Formlabs focused on the most challenging designs during product development to ensure that the resin could 3D print virtually anything.

“3D printing is an essential part of the jewelry making process for my jewelry line, LACE by Jenny Wu, because of the complex architectural forms that would be impossible to create by hand,” said designer Jenny Wu. “I was able to test out Castable Wax early with great results and I look forward to continuing to test out materials for future projects. I am excited to work with Formlabs to continue to push the boundaries of 3D printing materials for jewelry.”

Castable Wax Resin is 20% wax-filled and is suitable for a standard burnout schedule or a short eight-hour burnout schedule using strong investments. The resin does not require post-curing; just a quick isopropyl alcohol wash and the part is ready to go with no residual tackiness. The Standard Burnout Schedule is recommended for overnight cycles and for larger flasks and heavier geometries.

If you’re interested in Castable Wax Resin, you can download Formlabs’ Usage Guide, request a free sample part, or check out the company’s recommended casting houses to find a casting partner validated in casting Formlabs resins.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

[Images provided by Formlabs]