Sylatech, an investment casting company, uses Ultimaker 3D printers to accelerate their rapid prototyping process.
Sylatech offers services in CNC machining, RF and microwave processing, and investment casting. With over 53 years of history, they have clients in aerospace,
aviation, defense, medical, automotive, and construction industries.
Sylatech uses 3D printing as part of the investment casting process. Before using an Ultimaker 3D printer, customers had to directly invest in manufacturing the tools required for specific metal designs.
However, if their metal part needed modification, this became a time-consuming and expensive process.
Using Ultimaker, prototypes can be completed before investing in tools for mass production, thereby reducing the risk of such changes.
Accelerating the Prototyping Process
Using Ultimaker 3D printers, Sylatech can create 3D printed models of customer designs within days.
This can be directly used to create a metal prototype. When modifications are needed for the design, the only additional cost is the 3D printing of the updated design.
3D printed parts made from PLA have provided accurate prototypes before creating individual metal components.
When using 3D printing, metal components can be created. By using Ultimaker, design engineers can have a metal prototype of their design in as little as five days.
From 3D Prints to Metal Parts
First, the 3D printed model is attached to a wax frame. When the entire part consists of multiple objects, they are attached to the wax frame if the size allows. The wax frame is placed into
a container, which is then filled with a ceramic solution called slurry. When the container is placed in an oven, the slurry hardens, and the 3D printed PLA model is completely burned away and dissolved.
This creates a mold into which molten metal can be poured.
Attaching 3D printed objects to a wax frame
Once the metal inside cools, the mold is broken open. The metal part is an exact replica of all the internal models and the original wax frame. Now, the model can be cut from the frame
and smoothed by sanding. The metal part is now ready for testing.
Pouring molten metal into the mold 3D print and metal prototype
Saving Costs and Additional Development Time
To create a wax model, Sylatech had to create special tools. Projects that directly used these tools typically took five weeks to develop the first metal part.
Adjusting tools when design modifications were needed cost approximately £500 per adjustment. However, using Ultimaker, the cost of printing a new design is only about £10 per piece.
Typically, 30% of designs require changes after the first prototype. By using Ultimaker to create metal prototypes, the chances of modifying tools can be minimized. Therefore, this not only saves a lot of time but also saves costs.
The use of 3D printing has significantly changed the way we conduct business.
We will continue to use 3D printing and Ultimaker to bring benefits to our customers.
3D printed prototype and fully assembled final model
Sylatech uses Ultimaker
Sylatech started using 3D printers with the Ultimaker 2+.
The printer yielded excellent results from the very beginning. They would place their models on the print platform in Ultimaker Cura, and it would immediately prepare their design files into precise 3D print files.
After successfully using the Ultimaker 2+, Sylatech invested in an Ultimaker 3. The water-soluble PVA material allowed Sylatech to print a variety of designs desired by customers.
In addition to printing prototypes for customers, Sylatech also uses their 3D printers to create various fixtures, tools, and robotic parts. They have several robotic arms that help them automate most of their CNC machining processes. Many parts of these robotic systems are printed using Ultimaker 3D printers.
Sylatech robot electronics enclosure Sylatech custom robot pneumatic parts
Sylatech is a great example of how Ultimaker can be used as a tool to benefit companies. They have successfully optimized their investment casting process and used 3D printers to help achieve other workflow improvements. Most importantly, by applying Ultimaker technology, Sylatech's customers directly benefit from cost savings and receive their final metal parts at the fastest possible speed.
Original link:https://ultimaker.com/en/stories/52481-casting-metal-parts-for-prototyping-from-3d-prints