Sylatech is an investment casting company that 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 serve clients in industries such as aviation,
aerospace, defense, medical, automotive, and construction.
Sylatech uses 3D printing as part of their investment casting process. Before using an Ultimaker 3D printer, clients had to directly invest in tooling for manufacturing specific metal designs.
However, if their metal part required modification, this would become a time-consuming and expensive process.
Using Ultimaker, prototypes can be completed before investing in mass production tooling, 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.
These can be used directly to create a metal prototype. When design modifications are needed, the only additional cost is 3D printing the updated design.
3D printed parts made from PLA already provide accurate prototypes before creating individual metal parts.
When 3D printing is used, metal parts can be created. By using Ultimaker, design engineers can have a metal prototype of their design in as little as five days.
From 3D Print to Metal Part
First, the 3D printed model is attached to a wax tree. When the entire part contains multiple objects, they are attached to the wax tree if the size allows. The wax tree is placed into a
container and 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 melted.
This then creates a mold into which hot molten metal can be poured.
Attaching 3D printed objects to a wax tree
After the metal inside cools, the mold breaks open. The metal parts are exact replicas of all the internal models and the original wax tree. Now, the models can be cut from the tree
and smoothed by grinding. The metal parts are now ready for testing.
Pouring liquid 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 the 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 part.
Typically, 30% of designs require changes after the first prototype. By using Ultimaker to create metal prototypes, the need for tool modifications can be minimized. This not only saves significant time but also reduces costs.
The use of 3D printing has significantly changed the way we conduct business.
We will continue to use 3D printing and Ultimaker to benefit our customers.
3D printed prototype and fully assembled final model
Sylatech Uses Ultimaker
Sylatech started using 3D printers with an Ultimaker 2+.
The printer provided excellent results from the beginning. They would place their models onto the print bed in Ultimaker Cura, and it would immediately prepare their design
files for precise 3D printing.
After successfully using the Ultimaker 2+, Sylatech invested in an Ultimaker 3. The water-soluble PVA material allows Sylatech to print a variety of designs that customers
desire.
In addition to printing prototypes for clients, Sylatech also uses their 3D printers to create various jigs, tools, and robotic parts. They have several robotic arms
that help automate most of their CNC machining processes. Many parts for these robotic systems are printed using Ultimaker 3D printers.
Sylatech robot electronics housing Sylatech custom robot pneumatic part
Sylatech is a great example of how Ultimaker can be used as a tool to benefit a company. They have successfully optimized their
investment casting process and used 3D printers to facilitate other workflow improvements. Most importantly, by Sylatech applying Ultimaker technology,
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