POSSIBILITIES “T e conversation in the media is focused on the production
application of saleable goods, but honestly, it’s not likely an option for the average company,” said Todd Grimm, a 23-year veteran of additive manufacturing and industry advisor to the Additive Manufacturing Users Group. “I see a lack of attention in the media on the product development side, but making models and prototypes is a strong area. Plus, we are seeing some new ingenuity and creativity in applications we haven’t seen before.” T e investment casting industry has been using 3D
printing since the ‘90s to generate patterns for low run or prototype parts. Sand printing brings similar advantages to sand cast production parts. Engineers can procure prototype parts they are assured accurately refl ect how the parts will perform in full-scale production. In some cases, the printed mold or core is used to manu- facture castings beyond the trial period because of the complexity of design that is achievable or when it is a low volume order. “Time compression is just one advantage of ad-
ditive manufacturing ,” said Jerry T eil, director of University of Northern Iowa’s Metal Casting Cen- ter, which recently installed a 3D sand printer at its facility in Cedar Falls, Iowa. “Flexibility also comes to play because we don’t have to obey conventional molding rules such as draft.”
Reducing Tooling, Time to Launch John Deere has been utilizing ExOne’s RCT
(Rapid Casting Technology) additive manufacturing for sand molds and cores since 2011 as part of an eff ort to decrease spending on prototype tooling in product development. Enterprise-wide, the company spends about $100 million annually on feasibility and prototype castings. T e ability to test several design iterations without investing money in hard tooling, coupled with the ability to achieve desired intricacies with fewer cores, makes the RCT process an attractive option. “We have found diff erent paths to choosing additive manu-
facturing for a part,” said Sheila Dickey, manager of technology integration at the Casting Center of Excellence for John Deere Foundry Waterloo. “To determine if the process is applicable, we consider whether it requires a short lead time or if the cast- ing design itself is so complex that we could print a single core on the printer as opposed to building fi ve diff erent coreboxes as in traditional prototype tooling builds.” Dickey said some projects can be completed where no tooling is built, and instead make the
Nov/Dec 2013 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 37
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