In the customer’s situation, Dal-
ton Foundry saw how it could take advantage of the ability to print directly from the model without upfront tooling cost, particularly with a prototype that had a history of crack defects. If more changes were necessary, they could be done quickly and a new core could be printed within days. “Speed is a factor,” said Harold
DeVaux, national account man- ager, Neenah Enterprises Inc. “You can turn these 3-D-printed cores around in a short amount of time. Accuracy is very close to produc- tion-likeness. Using the customer’s model, you get a casting that is go- ing to be very close to the produc- tion model, plus it allows you to do whatever types of changes are necessary inexpensively.” T e design changes made with the aid of the stress simulation proved on target. T e fi rst pour of the gray iron part using the 3-D- printed core package was success- ful. Eventually, the entire proto- type order of 20 pieces was made without defect using the 3-D- printed cores, and the lead-time was reduced to a few days rather than several weeks if produced with metal tooling. “T e success of the part
required two leaps of technologi- cal faith: stress analysis and using printed cores,” Burita said. “Both worked out great.” After the first success us- ing the printed cores, Dalton Foundry decided to try its next prototype for a different customer using the same method. Now, just about every prototype the metalcasting facility makes is via 3-D sand printing. “We had been looking at
3-D printing for awhile and this issue provided us the perfect opportunity to try it out in our own process,” said Chuck Fen- nell, program manager, Dalton Foundry. “It was the catalyst for us to do all our prototypes now with the new technology.” ■
The modifi ed design (right) featured thinner, curved ribs compared to the original design.
Ten design iterations with modifi cations to the casting and rib design were modeled and analyzed before a fi nal solution was found.
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Sept/Oct 2015 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 29
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