Western Michigan University

Pavel Ikonomov

Margaret Joyce

Sam Nerone Ramrattan

Paul Dan Fleming, Iii

Daniel T Ziemer

Matthew W Ziemer

Hemant Bohra

James McQueen

Jacob Thomas Ives

James Mcqueen

A 3D metal printing machine or apparatus includes a welder that deposits one or more layers of metal, and a powered cutting tool that may be utilized to remove a portion of the metal deposited by the welder after the metal has solidified. Numerous layers of metal can be deposited and machined to form complex 3D metal parts. During fabrication, a part may be formed on a support whereby the part can be fabricated by welding and machining operations without removing the part from the support. A 3D CAD model of a part may be utilized to generate code that controls the 3D metal printing apparatus. A measuring device such as a probe or laser scanner may be utilized to measure the shape/size of parts in the 3D metal printing machine.

3D metal printing device and process

A method of creating a sand mold for rapid casting, including the steps of determining a mold shape, providing a generally uniform thickness layer of sand, curing at least a portion of the layer of sand, machining the cured portions of the layer of sand based on the desired mold shape, and repeating the layer-forming, curing and machining steps until the sand mold is complete. Another aspect includes a machine for creating the sand mold having a build envelope defined by side walls, a movable build platform and at least one movable tool assembly, the movable tool assembly having a single or plurality of tools chosen from the group consisting of a sand dispenser, a sand leveling device, a curing device, and a machining device.

Patternless sand mold and core formation for rapid casting

Growing community of inventors

Portage, MI, United States of America

Pavel Ikonomov