CPT International 04/2017

COMPANY
3-D printers can print the most complex
structures. Here a skull made of molding
sand
Swiss art print: This art print from Christenguss has 1.35 billion individual surfaces and
is currently being exhibited at the Pompidou Centre in Paris
Bombardier, Rheinmetall, General Dynamics
and numerous so-called ‘hidden
champions’ from Switzerland, i.e.
SMEs who are world leaders in their
business fields. The production quantities
are very modest: 120 tonnes of aluminum
castings and about 40 tonnes
of copper castings leave the works every
year. The average batch size is just
15 units.
Ideas for achieving capacity
utilization of the 3-D printer
Speed in a foundry demands maximum
flexibility. And this is precisely
what the new 3-D printer offers– entire
molds with integrated cores or core
packages can be printed overnight. In
the meanwhile, Christen and his team
are also trialing the printing of pattern
plates – with great success, because the
plant prints out structures of all kinds
to an accuracy of one-tenth of a millimeter.
In order to make money with the
high-tech machine, however, the printer
must run 24/7 all year round despite
the low energy price in Switzerland.
Capacity utilization at Christenguss is
still below this, at about 70 %, but the
high value creation of the works largely
offsets this: based on drawings, CAD
data or the reverse engineering of components,
the company can deliver finished
cast, machined and surface-treated
parts within an average of 3 - 4 weeks.
And the quality demands are high:
“The products have to look perfect and
cannot have a single pore,” according
to the Managing Director. Christen has
sought out another business field with
good potential in order to achieve higher
utilization of the printer: art printing
– which is, however, still in its initial
stages. Still, one can now see an
impressive work of art from the molding
sand of his 3-D printer at the Pompidou
Center in Paris, a hub for art and
culture. Just 156 gigabytes of data resulted
in a 3.5 meter tall, 3.1 meter wide
and 2 meter deep work of art made up
of an astonishing 1.35 billion individual
surfaces. This piece shows what is
technically possible with the current
state-of-the-art, and contains the most
complex of structures that would be impossible
to achieve without a 3-D printer.
Florian Christen is also playing with
the idea of using the printer to produce
higher-priced designer furniture in the
medium-term.
32 Casting Plant & Technology 4 / 2017