Quick update here, I placed the order for the 3D printer this morning so I can print the molds for the sand casting. The sample prints looked pretty good even at a low resolution.

 

The printer should be here towards the end of this week, then we'll be making progress again.

 

Hey everyone. Sorry for not updating anything here on the forum for so long, I just didn't have anything to update until now.

The 3D printer arrived at my house last week, but unfortunately I'm out of town on a project and not sure when I'll be home just yet. At any rate, things are still moving forward and I will begin working on creating the molds for the sand casting as soon as I get home.

 

Another update here.

The 3D printer is working beautifully, and I just visited the foundry again this afternoon to show them one of the printed clamp halves to verify that it will work as planned. They were very excited about it and expect that it will work very well. Now I just need to get the remaining pieces printed out and assembled for the pattern.

I also purchased a mill this afternoon so that I can run a boring head through the interior diameter of the clamps halves after casting to remove the draft from the part.

Here's a couple of pics of a printed part, and one in progress for those who are interested.

 

I've just about got the pattern board complete. Only a few more parts to print out before I'm ready to send it off to casting.

 

What 3-D printer brand/model did you get and how do you like it? What are you using for your material? What software do you use to create the designs and feed to the printer? I may need to get my a 3-D printer

 

Yeah we were also thinking about 3-d printers, but I'd like to purchase one of your mounts as well.

 

I went with the Series 1 printer from Type A Machines. It has a really nice build area capable of 9"x9"x9" prints. I use SolidWorks for all of my modeling, but there are quite a few free, web based 3D modeling software packages out there that others like to use. I couldn't really give you any advice on them because I've only ever used SolidWorks. Once you have your 3D Model, you use a slicing software (also free) to create your G code file by dividing up the model into it's individual layers based on what kind of resolution, speed, filament size, etc. you want. I use Kisslicer which seems to work really well. Then you load that into the printer using what ever software the printer works with. I use Pronterface, but there are a few others that it works with as well. Pronterface is also free software. The material I print with is PLA and is a very hard and durable plastic. It is possible to use ABS as well, but it requires adding a heated build platform to the printer which helps to minimize the extreme shrinkage & warping of your prints as they cool on the bottom while still being hot on the top when new layers are added and the part and it grows in height.

Thanks ZGPhoto, I'll get you added to the list.

 

2-1/2 days of sanding, priming, sanding again, priming again, sanding again, painting, painting again, buffing, and finally waxing is done. Tomorrow... sand and paint the board that they will be mounted to and hopefully mount them.

 

All painted up and ready to go to the foundry on Monday morning to run some sample parts and check it out.