Casting on the fly: 3D sand printing and digitalization create shortcuts in the foundry process

3D sand printing combines additive manufacturing technology with traditional sand casting, creating shortcuts in casting production.

The most obvious time saving is the complete skipping of model construction thanks to the model-free “printed casting” process. This means that lead times of four weeks (for simple parts) to four to five months (for complex components) can be saved in one fell swoop.

But it is also quicker afterwards. The design of the mould and core package is created in no time at all based on the CAD file of the component and can be revised and optimized at any time within a few hours.

Sand mold without limits

The construction of the mold is also faster and easier because many of the problems of the traditional process with a model are eliminated by printing the sand mold directly.

No splitting of the mold, no draft angles; undercuts and complex contiguous cavities are no problem. The degrees of freedom of 3D printing often allow complex molds and cores that would normally have to be made in several parts to be created in one piece, which also saves time and reduces manual intermediate steps.

Form at the touch of a button

Depending on the size of the printer, the sand molds are printed in a few hours, overnight or within a day.
After removing any loose sand from the molds, they are assembled if necessary and are then immediately ready for casting.
The digital and highly flexible process makes it possible to print molds for individual pieces or very small batches together in mixed batches and then to integrate them just as flexibly into the foundry’s subsequent production flow.

This creates immense agility in the procurement of cast parts and opens up new production capacities in foundries – for example, because the printer can produce molds unattended overnight. This allows foundries to meet seemingly impossible deadlines when things are particularly urgent, as production is completely transparent and digitally manageable.

Faster to the perfect end product

The sand mold from the 3D printer is created based on the CAD file of the workpiece and precisely reproduced by the sand printer. By eliminating mold chamfers and other model making requirements, the resulting cast part is very close to the final workpiece geometry and contour, which reduces the amount of post-processing required.

Printed castings are not only faster out of the starting blocks. The 3D sand printing process accelerates cast part production in several areas. From the iterative optimization of the component and mould design and the integration of mould components into a single piece, to reduced post-processing - 3D sand printing enables a sprint from CAD file to finished component in days or a few weeks, not months. And testing is also faster, thanks to the online calculator and digital ordering process.