Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 6

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES For those looking to use additive manufacturing as a means to make metal parts, there are four main paths to the end result: 1. Direct Metal – systems that “grow” metal parts directly from powdered metal or welding wire 2. Printed Sand Molds and Cores 3. Printed Plastic Tooling 4.Printed Investment Casting Waxes Simple Solutions That Work! has featured several articles on the large format sand 3d printers; machines that can make resin bonded sand molds from a variety of sands and resins. As these machines grow in speed, accuracy, and size, they will be useful to a broader range of foundries. The manufacturers are continuing to qualify new materials, further enhancing the value of these systems for making challenging castings. For many castings, however, the number of parts that needs to be made is greater than the economic cutoff for printed sand molds. Higher volume castings still frequently will require tooling to be commercially viable. Traditional WILLIAM SHAMBLEY President METAL FISH LLC 6 Welcome to our Emerging Technologies column. In each issue, we will feature new technologies that are entering the metal and die casting industry. PLASTIC TOOLING FORMETALCASTING FROM LARGE FORMAT 3D PRINTERS