Professional custom 3d printer rapid prototyping

As the leading China 3D sand printer manufacturer, FHZL stands out with stable quality, competitive price and premium service. FHZL 3D sand printing machine, with its intelligent performance and comprehensive functionality, is the best choice for foundries to catch up with Industry 4.0.

Patternmaking is the traditional method for metal casting. Patterns are time-consuming and costly, especially for large castings. Besides, patterns are also wasteful and require increasing amounts of storage space. And as 3D printing for sand casting molds becomes more widespread, they are becoming increasingly obsolete.
 
The conventional sand casting process starts with making the pattern for the final cast, which further will be used for making cope and drag. A taper, or draft angle, is required on the pattern to reduce the damage to the edges while removing the pattern. This draft increases the pattern's surface area and volume, which contributes to extra metal needed to fill the cavity. But for sand casting using the 3D-printed molds and core, the pattern was eliminated, as were the allowances related to pattern. This resulted in reduction in the final weight of the cast.
 
The advanced 3D printing process for sand casting is usually based on binder jetting technology.


Let's have a look at the binder jetting 3D printing process:

The first step is to model the object in CAD software, before slicing it and sending it to the industrial 3D printer. A Binder Jetting 3D sand printer is normally composed of one or two job boxes with printing platform. At the beginning of the printing process, the levelling device spreads a first layer of sand over the platform. The print head, similar to those of 2D printers sprays the binding agent in the form of micro droplets. As a result, the sand particles are unified and the piece is formed, layer after layer. The whole process takes as short as several hours. Once the object is built, it is almost ready for casting after certain simple treatment such as sand cleaning, heat-resistant painting and drying.

Obviously, adopting 3D printing processes will help minimize the product design and development delay, and greatly ease the process and reduce the cost for new product development. That's why more and more foundries tend to accommodate 3D sand printers to upgrade their metal casting business.