Ningbo Jushen Casting Industry Co.,Ltd.

3D prototyping cuts time

The advent of three-dimensional rapid prototyping has streamlined the sample prototype castings pattern-making process of CME Foundry and assisted the company in achieving greater time, labour and costs-cutting, reports the Cape-based foundry.

"The pattern-making process, necessarily, tends to be time consuming and fairly expensive. Once we had evaluated the benefits of using prototypes made by Custom3D we decided to go ahead with this system," says CME Foundry technical manager Duncan McClellan .

McClellan says that the CME Foundry adopted the Custom3D protoype technology based on a number of requirements and technical criteria.

CME Foundry uses the 3-D printer technology, which is able to build physical models directly from computer-aided design (Cad) in hours instead of days.

McClellan says that the 3-D printer is fast and versatile, allowing engineers to access a range of concept models, and functional test parts quickly.

"The printer technology used by Custom3D is a fast, affordable way to produce physical prototypes. Designers, and in our case-pattern shop personnel, benefit greatly from the ability to produce 3-D parts directly from Cad data," explains McClellan.

McClellan adds that accessibility to fast 3-D models enables one to communicate and evaluate design concepts more efficiently and collaborate with partners and vendors more effectively.

"This results in compressed design cycles, improved manufacturing planning and faster times to market," states McClellan.

McClellan says that the CME Foundry has strived to keep abreast of rapidly changing technology.

This is a good example of how this latest technology can assist in improving the entire production process, especially in the many cases where the foundry exports to overseas automotive markets, says McClellan.

Custom3D technical manager Henri du Toit, says that the printer uses technology to give clients an advantage in different industries with regard to cost, time and labour saving.

"Applications in the foundry industry, for example, include rapid patterns for investment casting, and sand-cast tooling from printed patterns straight from our 3-D printer, this cuts out a great amount of time and cost for the customer. We have forged an excellent relationship with CME Foundry in a relatively short time. It is an innovative and progressive company that has to compete on the highly competitive global market, so this type of advanced technology suits its needs extremely well," comments Du Toit.

He says that CME Foundry's prototype 3-D printer has seamless interfaces with a large number of software formats, making it versatile and user-friendly.

"Besides the functions mentioned above, Custom3-D is also involved in conceptual modelling for design verification, product development, and rapid tooling, where low production runs in polyurethane using rapid-and low-cost tooling, can be produced," states Du Toit.