Create Complex Designs with 3D Printed Sand Mold Castings
With the advent of 3D printing technologies, General Foundry Service can now create 3D printed sand molds for complex parts and components. This accurate and timely prototype casting process utilizes 3D printing technology and eliminates the need for intricate core boxes or traditional tooling. 3D printed sand mold castings provide significant advantages over standard prototype casting methods; including reduced lead time, less labor associated with pattern/tooling creation, and ultimate design freedom.
General Foundry offers 3D printed sand mold castings for your accurate and timely prototype casting needs. The 3D printer is like any inkjet printer, except instead of printing ink, the machine builds layers of sand to create a one-time use sand (negative) mold. There are opportunities to combine cores and integrate this technology in production, but it is geometry specific.
Contact us for more information regarding our accurate and timely 3D prototype casting methods or call
us at 510-297-5040 and we will happily assist you with your specific 3D printed sand mold casting
questions.
3D Sand Mold Casting Process:
- Customer’s model is rigged by our designers
- Sand molds/cores are printed from model
- Sand molds/cores are cleaned and assembled
- Metal is poured into printed sand molds
- Shake out (off) sand from solid metal geometry
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3D Printed Sand Mold Casting Material Options
Printed sand molds give customer’s complete design freedom and eliminate the need for a draft. Because
the sand is printed or layered, there are build lines that appear on the casting’s surface finish, but the
process offers the same alloy choices and the same cooling rates as any of our production sand processes. General Foundry Service offers the same alloy choices as our production capabilities:
3D Printed Sand Mold Advantages
3D printed sand molds allow complex geometries to be cast in an accurate and quick manner. Some of
the benefits that 3D printed sand molds provide include:
- Accuracy & speed out the gate
- Complete design freedom, no draft required
- Produces complex geometries not possible by other production means
- Eliminates tooling creation
For prototype geometries that may completely change or for reducing design risks without investing in
tooling, 3D printing sand molds is a game-changer. Furthermore, launching 3D printed sand molds while
concurrently building production tooling will reduce lead times by weeks. Among other advantages, there
are no size constraints, since molds can be built and puzzled together.
Contact General Foundry for 3D Printed Sand Mold Castings Today
Contact us for more information regarding our 3D printed sand mold casting options. Or for a quicker and more accurate pricing request, send us your project specs, an image, or a drawing of what you are looking to achieve, and we will get back to you with pricing details as quickly as possible.
