After tackling the 3D printer, material and design, there's still one challenge left for Exco Engineering: convincing customers.
Article Excerpt from the December 2019 Modern Machine Shop issue
Die casting is a particularly harsh operation. The process involves forcing molten metal into a mold cavity at high pressure, and is commonly used to make automotive parts such as engine blocks, wheels and engine cradles. The tooling that produces these parts must be durable, and buyers are not likely to trust a new process easily. In other words, die cast tooling is not an obvious place to experiment — but the challenge of the process makes it exactly the kind of application that is ideal for testing the limits of metal 3D printing.
This is what Exco Engineering (located in Toronto) has done over the last four years. In an initiative led by Wes Byleveld, now director of additive manufacturing, the company has not only proven that 3D printed tooling can withstand the die cast process, but that it also provides benefits to that process in the form of better cooling, reduced cycle time and longer tool life.
