3D Printed Sand Molds for Metal Casting

Quaker City Castings now has the ability to pour steel castings, stainless steel castings, nickel-base castings, and iron castings using 3D Printed Sand Molds!

3D Printed Sand Molds

Additive manufacturing is an ideal method for producing castings quickly while also eliminating the cost of tooling.  As with any form of 3D printing, thin layers of material are printed in a pre-set geometry, until the finished part is created.  3D Printed Sand Molds are manufactured by layering a binder resin into thin layers of a specific grade of sand. The 3D printed builds up consecutive sand layers, resulting in a finished mold with high dimensional accuracy.  Molds are engineered to be printed with extreme precision.  Exactly measured proportions of binder-to-sand are dispensed, thus producing optimal sand mold properties. Additive manufacturing of sand molds reduces variability in the molding process and as a consequence eliminates the need for expensive tooling to make your castings.

Additive manufacturing of sand molds can be used for more than rapid prototyping of steel castings as well.  Complex interior geometries that previously required multiple cores and a high amount of manual labor can now be printed as one, complete core assembly.  In addition to making the molding process more readily repeatable, it cuts down on labor time.  Molds can then be poured in any of the materials normally offered by Quaker City Castings.  This creates a degree of flexibility in both the design and manufacture of castings that was previously impossible.

If you want to learn more, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

3D Printed Sand Molds Advantages Over Conventional Sand Molding

– Avoids the need to purchase expensive tooling for small sample lots

– 3D Printed molds are made with greater precision, and thus tend to hold tighter tolerances

– Allows complex internal casting geometries to be created without numerous cores

– Reduces variability in the molding process

– Reduces the labor requirements necessary for highly-complex parts