Water Tap Splitter

In the past few years we have written several times about the advantages that 3D printing has for the casting industry. You can find the links to those articles at the end of this blog. Today we show you a practical example of a water tap splitter and how 3D printing not only saves time in the development process, but also saves costs significantly.

Water tap splitter design by colorFabb

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Using 3D printing in investment casting reduces cost and adds flexibility to the process. PLA/PHA is a natural choice for this process where the entire print is burned out. What started thousands of years ago with beeswax has now evolved to patterns made with 3D printing. The printed pattern is coated with ceramic, then the printed pattern is burned out and the metal poured into remaining shell leaving a complete casting.

 

The original which we replicated for this blog

Instead of investing in tooling to produce a wax pattern, foundry companies can choose to 3D print their patterns in a material suited for investment casting. ColorFabb PLA/PHA Natural is a material uniquely suited for investment casting. It’s an easy printing material capable of creating complex shapes with great smooth surface finish and will work with most desktop and industrial type FFF 3D printing machines.

For this print we used the Stacker S4 XL. Printing 4 pieces at a time took about 22 hours at 0.12mm layer height and each part weighs approximately 140 grams (and is eventually turned into a 1kg of stainless steel part when all is said and done).

With the colorFabb PLA/PHA filament we can enable the investment casting with more easy access to small volume production. Prototyping and small batches of patterns can now be 3D printed, eliminating the need for mould making to save both the costs and time needed for this process. This also ties in nicely with new design trends such as Generative Design, allowing Investment Casting to be an interesting alternative to 3D printing metal for various applications.

Below are the steps taken after we finished the print:

Putting the print on the wax tree

 

Putting the tree in the sand

 

Drying the tree

 

Filling the tree with steel

 

The end result

One of the big advantages of FDM/FFF 3D printing in this case is the decrease of costs. This part was made for about € 100 (compared to much higher costs elsewhere for a similar one-off production:

 

About Stacker

As many of you know, we are the distributor of Stacker 3D printers in Europe. We have been working with Stacker ever since their first prototype and now have several in our print lab. In the past 5 years we have seen 3D printing emerging from a hobby market to more professional uses. A lot of our users are using 3D printing to make a living or at least support their business in one way or another. We recently published two blogs about Dutch companies Optima and Mifa and their use of Stacker 3D printers.

The Stacker printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make them versatile printers. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This Minneapolis, USA, based manufacturer produces highly reliable printers and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page.

The Stacker S4 XL has a bigger build volume than its smaller siblings and other advantages:

  • Huge Build Volume 610 x 610 x 610mm (24 x 24 x 24″)
  • Closed loop servos for ZERO lost steps
  • Compatible with Stacker’s Direct Direct drive extruder
  • Four Print Heads for 4X print speeds
  • High Precision Linear Motion
  • Amazing Print Quality
  • Works with almost any Filament

For Stacker the term “industrial grade” is not a hollow marketing term. It means their printers are designed for extra long service life, extremely low maintenance and that the printer will maintain its positional accuracy throughout its life cycle. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

Previous posts about investment casting:

Stacker XL for investment casting

Using 3D printing in investment casting reduces cost and adds flexibility to the process. PLA is a natural choice for this process where the entire print is burned out. What started thousands of years ago with beeswax has now evolved to patterns made with 3D printing. The printed pattern is coated with ceramic, then the printed pattern is burned or melted out and the metal poured into remaining shell leaving a complete casting. We have posted about this process before and will explore it in more depth here.

This was an endurance test for our Stacker S4 XL: one full week of printing. We started the print on Friday August 3d and removed the print from the platform this very morning, August 10th.

The support structure was removed very easily, despite it having a large flat surface area which connects with the model. The support structure released in one piece, after carefully prying the support structure away from the model. The setting used were:

  • 0.2mm layer height
  • 0.4mm nozzle
  • approx. 2.5kg of filament

This casing for a gear box was designed by Muralidhar M and posted on Grabcad on November 17th, 2016

For small series, or one off products creating a mold is not a cost effective solution for foundry companies. 3D printing on the other hand presents several advantages enabling foundries to make single parts or even small series.

Instead of investing in tooling, foundry companies can choose to 3D print their patterns in a material suited for investment casting. ColorFabb PLA/PHA Natural is a material uniquily suited for investment casting. It’s an easy printing material capable of creating complex shapes with great smooth surface finish and will work with most desktop and industrial type FFF 3D printing machines.

The material decomposes at 600C and ensures a clean burnout leaving behind a clean mold ready for casting.

 

Cut down on development time

Skipping the tooling development step saves a huge amount of time. Typically this could shorten the time to a first metal casted part by 3-4 weeks. Not being dependent on a third party mold supplier also reduces risk in time sensitive projects.

We recently printed another weeklong print, made on the Stacker XL:

As many of you know, we are the distributor of Stacker 3D printers in Europe. We have been working with Stacker ever since their first prototype and now have several in our print lab. In the past 5 years we have seen 3D printing emerging from a hobby market to more professional uses. A lot of our users are using 3D printing to make a living or at least support their business in one way or another. We recently published two blogs about Dutch companies Optima and Mifa and their use of Stacker 3D printers.

The Stacker printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make them versatile printers. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This Minneapolis, USA, based manufacturer produces highly reliable printers and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page (S4 XL will be added soon).

The Stacker S4 XL has a bigger build volume than its smaller siblings and other advantages:

 

  • Huge Build Volume 610 x 610 x 610mm (24 x 24 x 24″)
  • Closed loop servos for ZERO lost steps
  • Compatible with Stacker’s Direct Direct drive extruder
  • Four Print Heads for 4X print speeds
  • High Precision Linear Motion
  • Amazing Print Quality
  • Works with almost any Filament

 

For Stacker the term “industrial grade” is not a hollow marketing term. It means their printers are designed for extra long service life, extremely low maintenance and that the printer will maintain its positional accuracy throughout its life cycle. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

Use of 3D Printing in Investment Casting

Last year we learned that 3D printing was used to drastically shorten time and costs in investment casting. Dutch company CIREX B.V. is an expert in investment casting and is exploring the added value 3D printing can bring to their process together with colorFabb.

We partnered with CIREX to better understand how PLA/PHA performs as a material for patterns. We have written exensively about this filament before. Traditionally investment casting uses wax patterns. These patterns are made using metal molds, making the tooling is an expensive process and can take several weeks.

For small series, or one off products creating a mold is not a cost effective solution for foundry companies. 3D printing on the other hand presents several advantages enabling foundries to make single parts or even small series.

Instead of investing in tooling, foundry companies can choose to 3D print their patterns in a material suited for investment casting. ColorFabb PLA/PHA Natural is a material uniquily suited for investment casting. It’s an easy printing material capable of creating complex shapes with great smooth surface finish and will work with most desktop and industrial type FFF 3D printing machines.

The material decomposes at 600C and ensures a clean burnout leaving behind a clean mold ready for casting.

Almost a year ago we highlighted US based Spectra3D’s work in investment casting, using the Stacker S4 and our signature PLA/PHA. Jerry LePore, CEO of Spectra3D explains why he chose PLA/PHA: “We chose Colorafab natural PLA because it contains no color pigments, prints great and burns out really clean from the mold.” You can read the full blog here.

Cut down on development time

Skipping the tooling development step saves a huge amount of time. Typically this could shorten the time to a first metal casted part by 3-4 weeks. Not being dependent on a third party mold supplier also reduces risk in time sensitive projects.

A wax tree with the printed models

3D printing also allows for faster design iterations, a first printed pattern could already be made in several hours depending on the size of the part. This makes it possible to iterate on the design multiple times even within a single day.

The material cost of printed patterns is around €30,- p/kg. Parts are generally printed with the least amount of material needed, which saves print time and material.

Checking out the burnout of PLA/PHA Natural, breaking the mold to inspect pattern for residue. Patterns printed on the Stacker S4, 0.2mm layer height at 20% infill.

 

3D Printer & Material combination

The Stacker 3D printer was used for this test case. It prints incredibly reliable with PLA/PHA and is able to print parts accurate and consistent. Printing with multiple nozzles cuts down on series production time, 2x faster for the Stacker S2 and 4x faster for the Stacker S4 compared to a single nozzle FFF 3D printer.

The Stacker S2 and S4 can be set-up for small series production, or single large part printing. Mounting up to 4 toolheads on the x-carriage gives the user higher output, but reduces the build volume. The alternative is to mount only a single toolhead and take advantage of the entire buildvolume of the S2 or S4.

Products larger then the build volume of the Stacker can be split into multple parts and assembled after printing. Using pins align the parts is a good method to ensure the assembled model is accurate.

The Stacker S2 and its larger sibling the Stacker S4 is an industrial grade FFF 3D printer. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make it a versatile printer. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This US based printer is very reliable and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page.

For Stacker the term “industrial grade” is not a hollow marketing term. It means their printers are designed for extra long service life, extremely low maintenance and that the printer will maintain its positional accuracy throughout its life cycle. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

colorFabb is proud partner of Stacker and official distributor for the EMEA region. At colorFabb we have been extensively testing with both the S2 and S4 in our print lab with our entire range of filaments.

 

About CIREX

The history of the current CIREX starts in 1947. In the physics laboratory of Philips in Eindhoven, an experimental wax model foundry was set up. From these beginnings CIREX has developed as a development partner and producer of high-quality precision castings in steel, produced according to the “lost wax” process. CIREX has built up a good reputation and recognition among international customers.

You can find more information about CIREX’ rich history on their website.

 

colorFabb Case Studies

This blog is a first in a new series of how colorFabb filaments are used in different industries – some old, some new. We will collect these case studies as downloadable PDFs on our website: Click here.

 

Stacker deal at the TCT Show

Third and final day at the TCT Show today. We are at stand H39 and feature four printers on our stand: The Lulzbot TAZ 6, Stacker S2, Robo R2 and the Prusa i3 mk2 – the latter two are printing with our brand new nGen_LUX filament which was announced last week and will be available in November. The TCT Show is the first show you see this new filament in real lifel and the reactions have been universally positive. “This just looks too good” may be one of our favorite reactions!

Today we highlight the Stacker S2 printer. In the next week, as from now, we offer the Stacker S2 and Stacker S4 at discounted prices:

Stacker S2: Was € 7,495 / is now € 6.500

Stacker S4: Was € 10.995 / is now € 9.500

This discount lasts until end of next week and applies to all order firm orders placed before then. Prices are excluding VAT and shipping. Contact us at sales@colorfabb.com for the details. Alternatively, visit us at the TCT Show today or at the Kunststoffenbeurs in Veldhoven, the Netherlands, where you can see the Stacker S4 at the stand of our sister company Helian Polymers.

The Stacker S2 (and its larger sibling the Stacker S4) is an industrial grade FFF 3D printer. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make it a versatile printer. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This US based printer is very reliable and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page.

For Stacker the term “industrial grade” is not a hollow marketing term. It means their printers are designed for extra long service life, extremely low maintenance and that the printer will maintain its positional accuracy throughout its life cycle. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

As many of you know, we are the distributor of Stacker 3D printers in Europe. We have been working with Stacker ever since their first prototype and now have several in our print lab. In the past 4 years we have seen 3D printing emerging from a hobby market to more professional uses. A lot of our users are using 3D printing to make a living or at least support their business in one way or another.

One great way to use 3D printing, and the Stacker in combination with our signature PLA/PHA, is investment casting. Using 3D printing in investment casting reduces cost and adds flexibility to the process. PLA is a natural choice for this process where the entire print is burned out.

This is being done in real life by companies like Spectra3D, as highlighted in last year’s blog.

And for the filaments we have a discount this week as well: 10% off on all 3D printing filaments. Use coupon code TCT2017 when checking out.

PLA/PHA Natural

Eager followers of our Twitter account have noticed that we have been printing quite a bit recently with PLA/PHA Natural in recent weeks:

And there is a good reason for this. PLA/PHA is our signature PLA filament which we exactly launched 4 years ago this month. The added PHA makes our grade of PLA tougher and less brittle than generic PLA grades in the market. PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) is like PLA a bio-polyester, so our unique blend is still 100% biodegradeable. This material is available in 30 colors, but today we focus on the one without a color: PLA/PHA Natural.

Due to the work of Spectra3D we have found that our filament is perfectly suited for investment casting. You can read our previous blog on Spectra3D’s work here.

Using 3D printing in investment casting reduces cost and adds flexibility to the process. PLA is a natural choice for this process where the entire print is burned out.

The results are phenomenal if we say so ourselves and we took ourselves to the task to print technical parts for investment casting ourself. Check out the results:

Design: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1643878

These engine block parts are a great design and you will see more of this design soon… (and that’s all we are going to say about this).

Another part we printed is intended for steel casting:

Design: https://grabcad.com/library/steel-casting-2

Both parts were printed on an Ultimaker 2 with a 0.6mm nozzle and 0.2mm layer height, resulting in a flawless surface quality.

In the past years, after the initial launch of our line of PLA/PHA filaments, we have released many other 3D printing filaments, like woodFill, bronzeFill, colorFabb_XT and one of the bestselling filaments: nGen. For a full timeline, click here. It is good, however, to go back to where it all started and find applications for the filament that started it all.

PLA/PHA Natural has been a favorite of professional designers ever since we launched it four years ago and has been a bestseller since. Our PLA/PHA range has received very good reviews over the years.

It has proven to be an extremely reliable filament for prototyping and investment casting.

PLA/PHA Natural is on sale this week. Get your spool now at a discounted price and find out the benefits of this filament soon on your own printer! Click here to go to the product page.

In the meantime, we keep printing…

Investment casting

An exciting new way of using 3D printing we encountered recently is its use in investment casting. Anyone who has been following 3D printing related posts on Twitter must have encountered Jerry LePore’s work on the Spectra3D account and his daily updates on the work he is doing with his printers. Never too shy to share his workplace (of which many reader of this article will be extremely jealous) he summed up the printers he has: “Makerbot Rep 2’s – MB 5th Gen- MB plus- Craftbots- Creatorbot 3D pro- Fuusion F306- Uprint Plus & and our pride and joy Stacker.”

2016-11-21-16-10-12

More recently Jerry has been posting a lot about prints which are used for investment casting. Before we delve into that further, we want to give Jerry the chance to introduce himself: “I started in 3d printing 3 years ago Jan 2014 with a MB Rep 2 with the purpose of making things that  people needed. In the years since we now have 15 printers of various capabilities.”

He continues: “I started using colorfabb filament early 2015 and havent turned back since. We believe in using high quality filament for our clients needs. We have used all of colorFabb’s filaments across the board. I joined Spectra3D Technologies (website) located in Asheville, NC  in January of this year and took the role of CEO. We started and are a reseller of various 3D printer lines and this past June we decided to offer 3D printing services. We print various Cosplay props, pinball game themed parts among other things.” 

Last summer, Spectra3D was contacted by Marshall Miller from Flowserve to print patterns for investment casting. Flowserve is a worldwide supplier of pumps, valves and engineering solutions. It’s a global player and a publicly traded company which is active in 55 countries and with over 18,000 employees.

Spectra3D now prints Valve Bodies, Ball Valves, Pump Housing and Impellers, etc. for Flowserve. As per Jerry’s words: “We chose Colorafab natural PLA because it contains no color pigments, prints great and burns out really clean from the mold. Currently we are going through 25 +/- rolls a month of Colorfabb Natural.” Spectra3D is supplied with our filaments by our distributor Printed Solid, based in Newark, Delaware. Jerry, as well as many more customers of Printed Solid, call his customer service top notch. Matthew Gorton, Printed Solid’s owner, has been working with us for over 3 years now and has been using colorFabb’s filaments even longer. His knowledge, passion for 3D printing and high service level are well-known in the 3D printing community. And, of course, Printed Solid’s signature gummy bears that ship with all orders…

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Flowserve then pours the castings in various metals, like titanium and CF8M stainless.

Taking a step back: What is investment casting? Investment casting, the basics of it, is already an ancient manufacturing technique sometimes described as lost-wax casting.

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Using 3D printing in investment casting reduces cost and adds flexibility to the process. PLA is a natural choice for this process where the entire print is burned out. As said by Jerry, his preference goes out to the colorFabb signature PLA/PHA natural due to its ease of use and its functionality for this application.

What started thousands of years ago with beeswax has now evolved to patterns made with 3D printing. The printed pattern is coated with ceramic, then the printed pattern is burned or melted out and the metal poured into remaining shell leaving a complete casting.

Below are a few examples of the prints made by Spectra3D for investment casting.

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Jerry uses the Stacker printer for the big prints, a very versatile printer for small series production and large prototyping. As he says, it’s his “pride and joy.” This US made printer the only truly industrial grade 3D printer that’s affordable. The printer, made with industrial components, the PLA/PHA filament and the age-old application make this a perfect case for 3D printing in the real world, where it adds value in the chain of production.

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Below you can see the result, courtesy of Marshall Miller at Flowserve:

This is once more an example of FDM 3D printing evolving from a hobby market to practical, functional and real life applications where hardware, software and materials matter to bring a product to the customer or, in this case, use 3D printing as a valuable additional to the chain of production. In this case, the material is our very own PLA/PHA which has been a hit in its natural, colorless form ever since its launch 4 years ago, allowing for flawless prints and

Follow Jerry’s work and the Spectra3D account on Twitter.

For more information on Spectra3D, visit their website here or contact them directly.

You can find more about Flowserve on their highly informative website or contact Marshall Miller, supplier development manager for the Americas at Flowserve, directly for more information: marmiller@flowserve.com or +1 214 808 4823

 

This is the second part in what we hope will be an ongoing series of blogs about companies using colorFabb filaments in unique and exciting ways. Last week we published about AKLIH, the Slovenian design company who use our woodFill filaments for their products.  If you are interested in being part of this feature, or know a company who would be suitable, please contact us at sales@colorfabb.com