3D Printing Makes In-House Pattern Making Possible

Astech (Alloy Steel Technologies Inc.) is a sand-casting foundry that produces castings in steel, stainless steel, alloy steel, and gray iron. The company’s specialties include the production of steel and chrome iron castings for heat, wear, and corrosion resistance applications in the power, mining, pulp and paper, transportation, agricultural, steel processing, asphalt, cement, and ground engagement industries.

Just like any manufacturer in the United States, Astech has been managing challenges such as increased foreign competition, price and lead time pressures, supply chain issues, and scarcity of skilled laborers. One solution that has helped keep the company competitive is utilizing additive manufacturing for in-house pattern making.

Several challenges with outside pattern shops had prompted Astech to want to bring pattern making in house, explains Bob Helwer, engineering manager for Astech.

“With outside pattern shops, we didn’t have much control over the how patterns were specifically engineered to fit us and our specific molding processes,” Helwer tells Design News. 

In addition, “traditional pattern shops are becoming a thing of the past and nearly all of our local pattern shops have closed their doors. Finding a reliable place to have patterns made was becoming more and more difficult,” he adds.

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With such limited numbers of pattern shops, “turnaround times were getting longer and longer while the cost of having patterns made kept increasing,” he says. “If there was an issue with the pattern or the customer decided to make a design change, the long and costly process would start over.”

In 2018, Astech began using medium-format fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers to produce small- and medium-format patterns. But the company needed an in-house solution for producing patterns larger than 24 inches in any dimension.

Helwer set out to identify such a solution, researching online and attending several additive manufacturing tradeshows. At the American Foundry Society’s Additive Manufacturing 2018 conference, Helwer had heard a presentation by Clay Guillory, founder of Titan Robotics, which made large, industrial pellet-extrusion 3D printers. (The company was acquired by 3D Systems in 2022).

“I couldn’t believe how fast [the printer] was and was sure that the video had been sped up until Clay mentioned in his presentation that the video was recorded in real-time,” recalls Helwer. 

Helwer then obtained samples from a few manufacturers of large-format 3D printer to compare quality and performance. He chose a Titan Robotics Atlas (now known as EXT 1070 Titan Pellet) 3D printer, and the system was installed in August of 2020.

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A large CF ABS pump casing pattern printing on Astech’s EXT Titan Pellet printer. ASTECH

The new printer solved Astech's challenges and opened up some new possibilities. “Our initial 3D printers, while large relative to other printers, were not large enough for our larger patterns,” says Helwer. “The Titan printer, due to its size, speed, reliability, and accuracy, allows us to bring all large pattern work in-house and expand our customer base to include those where larger castings are a necessity.”

Overall, in-house patternmaking is providing Astech with key capabilities. “We can now control every aspect of the pattern creation process from concept to production,” he says. “We know the pattern will work seamlessly with our specific molding processes and produce the castings our customers are expecting.”

The 3D-printed CF ABS pump casing pattern, painted with mold release and mounted in a flask, ready to be filled with no-bake molding sand. ASTECH

In-house capabilities have also made the company competitive in terms of cost and turnaround. “By having the process in-house, our turnaround times have decreased significantly, and our costs are minimal, which allows us to pass on the savings to our customers while still achieving a decent ROI,” Helwer explains. “Customer design changes can be handled quickly and easily.

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“Customers are happy with the speed, cost, quality, and accuracy of patterns produced on our 3D printers,” Helwer concludes.