Students Make Novel Use of 3D Printed Sand Mold

During a casual conversation at RAPID 2012 with several engineers and additive manufacturing (AM) professionals, it was generally agreed that one of the biggest hurdles standing in the way of a more widespread acceptance of the technology among businesses was the newness factor. People get used to doing something in one way and, as long as that method continues to produce results, are often loathe to try anything different.

This sort of reluctance is one of the reasons why many new ideas come from students or recent graduates. Rather than just accepting the reasoning of, “This is how we’ve always done it,” someone with a fresh perspective is better capable of thinking outside the box. Students at the University of Bayreuth have proven this idea with their novel use of a sand mold.

The core, built for the students by voxeljet, was created to fabricate a new seat for the university’s Elefant Racing team’s car. While the seat design already has some thought behind it, the racing team was eager to create a prototype to further tweak the details. Elefant Racing used the mold to make a laminate template.

"The positive mold gives us the option of 'test-sitting' the new seat before laminating, and to make adjustments if necessary,” said Artur Horn, team manager. “A sand mold is ideally suited for this purpose, since it can be easily machined with sanding and scraping. However, the current mold from the voxeljet printer was a perfect fit from the start."

The seat mold was printed at voxeljet to the design specs of the team in the form of several individual components, which were subsequently assembled. During the laminating process, carbon fiber mats were placed over the printed mold and coated with epoxy resin. This process was repeated until the desired material thickness had been achieved. Finally, the seat was put in a vacuum-packed plastic bag and cured at room temperature.

"We have been supporting the Elefant Racing team for some time, and we never cease to be amazed by the students' creativity, which continues to open up new areas of application for 3D printing technology,” said voxeljet CEO Dr. Ingo Ederer. “We wish the team much success with the new seat, and a successful racing season.”

Below you’ll find a video about voxeljet’s large-scale sand printer, the VX4000.

Source: voxeljet