to facilitate easier removal by reduc- ing the amount of hardware used. Great Plains needed the mount in time for its dealers’ meetings, a three-
week period in July during which farm equipment dealers from across the country visit the facility to check out its latest products. Most familiar
with weldments, Reade first sketched out a model of the part as a fabrica- tion requiring four bolt holes. “Four bolts per row, with between 11 and 17 rows per machine, would be too tedious,” Reade said. Te part was a prime candidate for casting. Reade worked with Spaeny and tool designer Erik Torsell, who have experience designing castings, to refine the mount’s shape and structure. Tey eliminated two bolt holes by incor- porating a loop that hooks onto the equipment, instead of being bolted on, before creating the first plastic pattern on the 3-D printer. Great Plains partnered with Kansas
The initial quick-attach mount model was designed with four bolt holes.
The first casting design replaced the top bolt holes with a hook.
32 | MODERN CASTING August 2012
The final casting design replaced bosses and gusseting with a long cylindrical tube.
Castings, Belle Plaine, Kan., a nobake and green sand casting facility two hours south of Salina, to pour the prototype castings. “Tis was the first time I had ever seen patterns made of that material,” said Don Hibbs, Kansas Castings plant manager. “Te material was a little rough and fragile, but we were able to make good castings from the first pattern.” According to Spaeny, the first
plastic pattern printed for the mount
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