A Rapid Approach to Rapid Prototyping
In this Blog I want to highlight an area that is fast becoming a staple in the industry, ‘3D Printing’.
There are some of you out there who know I own some 3D printers myself, and I do enjoy seeing what I can create, and even in my own house, my printers have already come to the rescue on several occasions producing replacement car parts, and household items, saving money & waiting times, and in one instance, replacing a part for a car key that you can’t actually purchase anymore.
This brings me neatly to the application 3D printing already has in our industry, with many foundries now using them for rapid prototyping, full working parts, and pattern making. It’s a fantastic technology, which is growing more advanced, but easier to use with each passing day, with the boffins at UC Berkeley recently creating a printer that can create objects using light in a matter of seconds See here for details.
3D printing has come a long way in a very short space of time, and although you can’t order your ‘Earl Grey, Piping Hot’ just yet, I don’t believe it’s far off, and once food production is capable, then our industry, like so many times before, could have been at the beginnings of yet another world changer. It’s one of the many reasons I am proud to be part of the Cast metals world… many don’t know it, but we silently change the path of the world with what we do. The same is True with Synchro itself… the capabilities with the system are there to make YOUR world a better place in your foundry... so what are you waiting for…
Until next time…
Lee Mahon
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Main Stream
Metalcasting has its origins traced back over five-thousand years. I have serious doubts that even the most enlightened and envisioned metalcaster of lore could even fathom what today’s metalcasting is all about.
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Bite Size - Weld Log Module
The Weld Log module enables Companies to track welding carried out on a casting (unique ID/Serial Number), by Job Number or Part Number. This will record the welder name, position of the weld on the casting, type or welding rods used, batch(s) of weld rod, quantity (& Weight) of rods used. A weld map, or multiple maps if tracked by job or part, can also be attached to show visually where each weld occurred. The welder will have access to the welding specifications stored against the part to make sure the weld falls within one of the specifications.
