The path to applying AM for metal part production need not involve metal AM.
That statement might seem illogical on its face. But in fact, production processes for metal parts generally feature sequential stages, and the geometry is not necessarily realized in the final stage. If the geometry is captured in an interim stage, 3D printing can make its impact there.
3D printing investment casting patterns enables them to be made without an investment in mold tooling. Something more: It allows that every pattern could be different. “Mass customization” is a possibility we associate with AM, but it can also be realized through metal casting aided by AM. Read more.
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Below: 3 Ways 3D Printing Changes Our View of Investment Casting
Saeki is offering robots-as-a-service for the manufacturing industry, providing end-to-end automation for 3D printing, machining and inspecting functional large parts, delivered next day.
Is complex geometry only for AM? It can also be produced through casting with 3D printing’s help. Aristo Cast, for example, demonstrates this. The foundry creates intricate forms in 3D printed ceramic that then become intricate cast metal parts.
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The future of jewelry might look more like the past of jewelry (in a good way). The Future of Jewelry (TFOJ) is a company that calls back to a time when jewelry pieces were routinely tailored to the wearer. TFOJ leverages 3D printing plus investment casting to deliver an efficient means of offering customized jewelry.
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“Digital foundry” is an increasingly problematic term for AM facilities. That phrase has been floated as a term for production facilities making parts via AM, and some scale production AM users have referred to themselves this way. Yet an investment casting provider making patterns via AM is — literally and justifiably — a digital foundry. For the broader question of what to call AM production facilities, we need to find the fitting term.
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