Fig. 3. The scans of the casting showed that only the cope edge was beyond the requested 0.25-in. tolerance.


to compare cross-section geometries. Although no additional scanning work was necessary, this additional request required conversion of the scan data into a CAD file to overlay the build model and analyze the required sections. Inspection performed on the first


article small elbow piece showed similar results with additional material (0.4 to 0.6 in.) along the cope edge of the cast- ing. Both large and small first articles were brought into tolerance by removal of the excess material during finishing. Additionally, tie bars were introduced to maintain dimensional stability through heat treatment (shown in Figure 4).


Ensuring Accuracy


After making the required adjust- ments to the patterns, Bay Cast poured the remaining castings which were again inspected utilizing the same criteria as the first articles. All of the results were within customer require- ments, and dimensional variations from casting to casting were minimal considering all of the pieces were poured from a separate polystyrene pattern. A summary of the variations are shown below in Tables 1 and 2. 3-D point cloud scanning has been used for a variety of applications in


32 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | Sept/Oct 2015


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