RE: [rp-ml] Investment casting

From: Warner, Pat (Pat.Warner@uk.renaultf1.com)
Date: Thu Nov 15 2007 - 00:44:50 EET


Bill

Realistically there are a number of solutions to this problem, and they
all have their good points and their bad. I use SLA Quickcast for large,
highly complex, high accuracy, high resolution patterns. The downside is
that SLA patterns can be comparatively expensive and some foundries have
difficulty in processing them. There are a number of solutions for
small, feature rich castings such as jewellery. Due to cost, the above
aren't really applicable if you are looking to cast a pipe with a flange
on the end, unless of course you already have one of these technologies
in house. There are a number of comparatively low resolution solutions,
that will produce your pattern relatively cheaply. It really depends on
the nature of the casting, the material you would like to cast and the
abilities of your chosen foundry. I would suggest that you choose a
geometry that would be representative of the majority of items you are
likely to cast and benchmark the systems and some foundries to achieve
the solution that best fits your business. It may be worth posting a
generic geometry (if you can) and asking the list for comments from
experience.

Regards
 
Pat

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi] On
Behalf Of Bill Bedford
Sent: 14 November 2007 13:46
To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
Subject: [rp-ml] Investment casting

I'm looking at the possibility of using a 3d printer to directly
produce waxes for investment casting for low volume production.

Has anyone any experience of doing this?

What machines would people recommend and are there any potential
problem I should be aware of?

-- 
Bill Bedford
"Nothing is as important as model railways and even that isn't very 
important" 
-some wiseguy somewhere 
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