Investment casting rapid manufacturing tools streamline product development and introduction, save time and manufacturing costs for investment casters

Hascher M

Incast, Volume 14, Pages 14-17, 2001

Abstract: Today's investment casters face the challenge of meeting though ever hanging needs of their customers. This requires versatility as well as use of fall available tools. One such technology is rapid tooling and one tool for creating rapid tooling is the ThermoJet(r) printer, using multi-jet modeling technology. This technology can create patterns for the production of prototypes and/or limited production runs. A case study involving turbine blades is cited showing a timesaving of 40 days and a dollar savings of $30,000. A second case study shows a time reduction from 40 days down to 11 days and a cost savings of $16,485 vs $2,125.

Keywords: Casting, Investment casters, Manufacturing costs, Rapid manufacturing, Customers, Needs.