Craft Pattern & Mold used 3-D sand printing technology to produce the mold for this Polaris Industries motorcycle steering clamp.
produce the molds.” All together, the group had no
“We didn’t want to give the
appearance of a true fi nished part,” said Steve Shade, project manager, Craft Pattern. “We’re bringing it out as that raw look the customer wants, but with new functionality.”
The Proof Is in the Printing Polaris was updating its motor-
cycle suspension, which was built on a technology introduced many years ago. “We wanted to use an air over
spring shock in the front, which this component does mount, and we wanted to integrate the handlebar mounts and the pivot arms,” said Tom Hanegraaf, senior computer-aided industrial design (CAID) designer, Polaris Indus- tries. “The industrial designer was the one to conceive how this was going to be packaged together, and I needed to come up with a design for Craft Pattern, so they could
40 | MODERN CASTING July 2014
more than three weeks to accomplish this part design. Craft Pattern & Mold used 3-D sand printing tech- nology to produce the prototype sand mold for the steering clamp, now a single 6.5 x 5 x 3-in. 356-T6 alumi- num casting weighing 2.6 lbs. “We had a total of six cast parts
to complete for this one-off con- cept bike,” Hanegraaf said. “[3-D printing] allowed me to hand off these models, making changes as needed during the prototyping process.” “Near-net-shape castings elimi-
nate costly machining and fabrica- tion processes,” Cremers added. “Timeframe was a factor, and also the customer’s need for one or two pieces. Usually that is a good candidate for [rapid prototyping], where you don’t have to invest the time in producing a pattern tool, then make your sand mold and pour your parts.” The rapid 3-D sand printing
process significantly reduced cost and lead time obstacles to pro- ducing this casting conversion. Craft Pattern drew up gating and machining plans, and the parts were on their way to completion. Prototype delivery was accom- plished in days rather than weeks. Rapid manufacturing enables
metalcasters to produce compo- nents for physical testing that match the castings to be created in full production using other meth- ods. It’s a game changer in the market’s ever-increasing competi- tion to produce lightweight, high performance components. “I was at one of the bike shows and a lot of people were intrigued with us using the latest suspen- sion,” said Hanegraaf. “We were mounting up the fork itself to the triple clamps. That bodes well from a marketing standpoint to have those highlighted areas, to show people the days of old versus what we’re capable of doing now.” He credits his relationship with Craft Pattern and the shop’s introduc- tion of 3-D sand printing as key enablers to the proof of concept and straightforward production of this Polaris prototype.
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