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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Heidelberg, Victoria
    Age
    79
    Posts
    2,074

    Default 3D printing to make pattern?

    In my previous thread re "HOME MADE CAST IRON PARTS", joe greiner suggested using 3D printing as a means of making a pattern.

    Last night I witnessed this process on TV to make up a model of a sole for a shoe. Very impressive. Basically the printer deposits layers of fine powder mixed with a bonding agent, until a full size 3D model is built up.

    Once printing began, it looked to be a fairly quick process.

    Where have I been, time to take off the shades?

    Apparently there is a firm in Queensland called SOS Components, that offer this service and can even make working models in ABS. How cool is that?

    I intend sending them an email, but in the mean time,
    has any member had any experience in this field, or know if it's an expensive process?

    Ken

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    11

    Default

    When I was doing my Industrial Design degree in the late 90's it was called rapid prototyping, and the uni purchased a machine the year after I left.

    A search under rapid prototyping or a call to some Industrial Design firms would probably get you some more info.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Tallahassee FL USA
    Age
    82
    Posts
    372

    Default

    In that previous thread, I neglected to mention that patterns from 3D printing, made in low-melting-point wax or plastic, can be used directly in "lost wax" casting, without the need for ramming a sand mould. In that process, the pattern is augmented with wax/plastic risers and runners, and then the whole is encased in a refractory slurry repetitively until a suitable thickness is achieved. This construction is heated to melt the wax/plastic to create a cavity. Placed in a centrifugal casting machine, or not, the molten metal is introduced to create the final part. After cooling, the brittle encasement is broken away, and the risers/runners are removed. High-melting-point metals, including steel, can be used with a suitable encasement.

    Google [lost wax] for more information. This process has been used for centuries, if not eons, to make large and small sculptures, school-class rings, dental prostheses, micrometer frames, aircraft engine parts, and many other precision applications. 3D printing is simply the latest wrinkle.

    From time to time as the project develops, assess your benefits vs. costs. But don't be too discouraged. For myself, I would do almost anything, even commit the sin of golf, to avoid watching daytime television.

    Joe
    Of course truth is stranger than fiction.
    Fiction has to make sense. - Mark Twain

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