64th Technical Conference & Equipment Exposition FINALISTS
Investment Casting and Additive Manufacturing Provide Significant Time and Cost Savings
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raditionally a sand casting, this bearing housing is now cast utilizing an additive manufactured pattern. The pattern was
selected for the project to save money on permanent tooling for the low volume run. The sand casting version of this product requires chaplets
to support the core for the internal water passage, which the customer wanted to avoid. So, the connection ports were modified to be used as core print areas, thus eliminating the need for them. Tech Cast worked with Eagle Engineered Solutions using their Direct Print Ceramic (DPC) Core technology coupled with well-established SLA QuickCast™ pattern technology to provide cored patterns that were ready for gating and mold assembly. Pattern cost and time savings factors were significant for this
project. Conventional investment casting tooling is estimated at $70,000. The total cost for purchasing the SLA patterns prepared with Eagle DPC cores was about half of this amount. The lead time to build tooling and procure ceramic cores would have been about 20 weeks. Eagle supplied SLA QuickCast DPC Cored in approximately 15 days. In the end, Tech Cast and Eagle Engineered Solutions
partnered to utilize the full capabilities of additive manufacturing. This provided significant savings in time and money. As an added bonus, the casting achieved greater dimensional accuracy and surface finish surpassing that of typical sand castings.
his casting is representative of an entire product line of propellers with blades set at different pitch based
Tech Cast, LLC
PART: Bearing Housing Size: 14 x 13 x 6” Alloy: WCB Notes: Investment casting and additive manufacturing provide significant time and cost savings.
Stainless Steel Marine Casting Realizes Cost Savings T
on application. The unique aspect of the manufacturing process used here is the company’s use of common wax dies. The center hub and blades are injected separately. The blades are then fixtured and cut to specified dimensions for applicable part number. The resulting blades are then wax welded to the hub, again using fixturing, to ensure the appropriate pitch and placement is achieved. By using common wax tool sets, the company realizes a significant non-reoccuring cost savings.
PART: Marine Propeller Size: 14-3/8 diameter Alloy: 15-5 Stainless Steel Notes: Wax tool set helps realize significant cost savings.
24 ❘ October 2017 ®
Yamaha Marine Precision Propellers, Inc.
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