Bill,
We have done a lot of very successful direct AIM wax tooling. This ranged
from the simple (open and close) to complex (12 piece tool)using both
straight SL and combinations of SL and aluminum.
Initially we were very worried about temperature ( causing problems with the
SL core and cavity) due to some relatively large wax wall sections, so we
used aluminum cores to aid heat extraction. Later we concluded that the
temperature rise due to the incoming wax was not a problem, the aluminum
served more of a purpose to extract the heat to improve the tool cycle time,
than to protect the tool.
We rapidly progressed to shelled cores and cavities to reduce SL build time.
These were subsequently backed with epoxy. Water cooling was also tried.
All these tools were designed to run in a production wax press at production
injection pressures and temperatures. The resulting waxes were very high
quality with good edge definition and after casting the source of the wax
could not be determined. (i.e. production or prototype). Some tools
performed over 300 cycles with no visible sign of deterioration.
All in all a very satisfactory process and a lot easier than injection
moulding!!!
Tim Plunkett
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-rp-ml@ltk.hut.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml@ltk.hut.fi]On Behalf Of
Alta Precision
Sent: 24 February 1999 18:03
To: rp-ml@ltk.hut.fi
Subject: Direct AIM for wax injection
Greetings from Canada,
Has anyone experimented with using SLA Direct AIM tooling to inject wax
for investment casting purposes and is willing to share their findings?
I welcome any and all comments.
Thanks in advance.
Bill Bernardo
Alta Precision Prototypes
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
alta@bcs.ca
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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