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Ah, that makes sense Jason. Back in the day we used wooden masters, with double shrinkage to make Aluminium master patterns. As time is progressing we’re becoming much more savvy with the machine and what used to take several weeks for a project is now happening almost overnight. Photos of...

Guys, let’s get a couple of terms straight. A mould or mold depending on which side of the pond you are is the term for the cavity that the metal fills after the pattern has been removed. Tony, I’m new to this 3D Printing but our machine is very economical on electricity running at, or around...

Don, many thanks for your advice. We’ve upped the wall thickness to 2 mm and gone for a 25% Gyroid fill. The main problem is the foundry using screw hooks to draw the patterns. This literally cracked the plastic and broke the pattern. The new one now has a 10 mm diameter hole where we can insert...

It seems the printer environment plays a big part…. Despite the P1S being a fully enclosed unit, moving it into a cold back room was not a good idea. We ran, unsuccessfully three attempts at the new flywheel pattern before moving it into the back end of our lounge. The next print was near...

Things aren’t going well currently. We set up for a print of a different flywheel, yet another new model. The first attempt got around 20+ layers before it became detached from the bed plate. Thinking that the plate surface might be contaminated we first washed it with warm water and a very mild...

Top secret, so far.

No, not back then. All traditional, old school floor moulding or vibro plate machine.

Ok, the results could have been better but a little bit of ‘ Knifing putty ‘ will fix it. Just starting off another flywheel pattern with the platform temperature set 20 degrees higher.

In all my 40+ years of foundry experience never seen the use of Wax polished pattens ever. A good quality paint finish with parting powder or, better still…. Brightly polished Aluminium can’t be beaten. Mould and core in place, all Airset sand.

In the good old days when most founders were using the ‘ Green sand ‘ technology. ie moulding sand, Bentonite and fine Coal dust tempered with water, then a wax coated pattern would definitely help with the ‘ draw ‘ Most founders are now using chemically bonded sand and for Iron, missing the...

It’s just one very great learning curve. Because we increased the initial layer thickness the bed temperature wasn’t high enough to keep the print from curling up. Problem solved.

Ok, this time we cannot atribute to operator error. Photo taken using the onboard camera. The print is lifted away from the heated bed plate.

Problem Problem solved. It seems that the door to the enclosure was opened during the initial phases and the room the printer is installed in was very cold. Below zero C outside.

I would like to thank Jason B for opening this thread and to all members that have contributed thus far. I have been involved with model engineering for over 40 years but a complete novice, nay beginner in this field of engineering. I have made hundreds of patterns over the years, I would now...