Tag: Patternless Casting

A buyer’s checklist for sand mold and core printing – build envelope, sand and binder, accuracy, throughput per shift, post-processing, and machine versus service.

Printed sand molds cut lead time from 2-8 weeks to hours and remove pattern tooling entirely. Compare cycle time, cost by quantity, tolerance and design freedom.

Six commercial rapid prototyping routes compared on lead time, tolerance, surface finish and cost per part, with the quantity where tooling takes over.

The mold-making operation itself: pattern allowances by alloy, sand and binder targets, ramming and mold hardness, gating and riser design, vents, closing, pouring temperatures and shakeout – plus when a printed sand mold removes the pattern entirely.

The sand casting process from pattern to finished part: six steps, five molding methods compared, sand and binder selection, gating and riser design, and pattern options.

Case study: 3DPTEK’s Tongling foundry scaled bronze art casting to 500 tons a year with sand 3D printing — faster delivery and repeatable quality.

Case study: a heavy machinery OEM cut casting cost and lead time with patternless digital molds — no tooling bill for one-off parts.

Case study: a shipbuilder’s complex impeller went from a 12-week pattern wait to a 2-week digital mold — with better accuracy and yield.

Training mold makers for digital casting: the CAD workflow, printing process, QC loop, and a practical 12-week plan to upskill your team.

3D printed molds for bronze art casting and sculpture: go from CAD to bronze faster, with unlimited design freedom and no traditional pattern tooling.