Great Plains used a 3-D printer to produce plas- tic patterns capable of making sand molds.
Spaeny said Great Plains already has another component in the works for design and testing. “It was kind of fun to try some-
thing new. I don’t think it could have gone any better,” he said. “This will help us get to casting testing much quicker. And in the ag busi- ness, if we miss a season of testing, we may miss the whole year.” Spaeny said building a weldment in the shop for new product devel- opment may be simple and easy, but in the long run, many com- ponents would benefit from being designed as a casting. The process would eliminate multiple pieces, save man-hours in the weld shop and often produce a cleaner-looking part. Finding a way around casting’s drawbacks, such as tooling costs and slower ramp-up speeds, with the use of 3-D-printed plastic patterns is an exciting prospect for Spaeny, who also pointed out how quickly Great Plains was able to make changes to the initial model for the second pattern. The whole prototype stage, from concept to casting-in-hand for the dealer showcase, took three months. “This is a big deal for us. There’s a lot of money that can be saved in castings,” Spaeny said. “It’s really hard to go back and save X amount of dollars. It’s easier to do it [as a casting] right off the bat.” Hibbs is glad Kansas Castings was along for the experiment. “This is what makes the foundry business fun—being involved close enough at the beginning to see what works with the foundry,” he said. “It’s a lot more satisfying and interesting to be involved.”
ONLINE RESOURCE
Visit
www.moderncasting.com to see more photos of Great Plains’ new prototyping method.
August 2012 MODERN CASTING | 35
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