New software feature is designed to improve material removal, reduce material consumption and accelerate build times.
3D Systems has announced a new tool in its investment casting portfolio. QuickCast Air is designed to maximize material removal from the interior of casting patterns. This enables reduced material consumption, lower pattern costs, faster build times, cleaner burnout processes and improved draining efficiency.
According to the company, end-users in foundries, the aerospace and defense industries and the energy sector can reliably deliver large, high-precision investment casting patterns at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional tooling and with no limitation on geometric complexity. 3D Systems claims that some of its large-volume aerospace customers have used QuickCast Air to reduce the material consumption on their patterns by up to 50% as well as a multi-hour reduction in build times.
QuickCast Air is available to 3D Systems’ customers through its 3D Sprint software via an annual subscription. It allows customers to design casting patterns with fewer structures within the self-supporting walls. Using less resin and building more refined support structures results in less material needing to be burned out and thus less ash. Furthermore, having less internal structure makes it easier to drain the resin, thus retaining more within the vat during the draining process rather than being lost downstream. Within 3D Sprint, users can adjust the part’s shell thickness and add vents and drains on any surface.
In the mid-1990s, 3D Systems began creating high precision casting patterns using 3D printing, introducing the manufacturing industry to QuickCast. This 3D-printed investment casting process is intended to enable manufacturers to produce lightweight, hollow parts with 3D Systems’ polymer technologies such as Stereolithography (SLA), or MultiJet Printing (MJP).
“Since 3D Systems introduced QuickCast more than two decades ago, we have continued to evolve this unique tool and the capabilities it provides,” said Patrick Dunne, VP of advanced applications at 3D Systems in a press release. “Our customer-centric approach to innovation fuels this transformation by closely aligning with their unique challenges. As with many of our products, QuickCast Air was born from a specific customer’s application requirements. I’m pleased that we are now able to bring this advanced tool to market thus refining the design and production of investment casting patterns. I’m looking forward to seeing how the adoption of QuickCast Air will continue to unlock design freedom and accelerate production timelines.”
3D Systems will showcase QuickCast Air at this year’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in booth 433129 in the West Building. IMTS will be held September 9-14 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.
