CPT International 4/2019

The VX1000-PDB also
offers space for large-format
casting
projects with a
construction space of
1000 x 600 x 500 mm.
Modern racing cars or performance-enhanced
luxury cars offer up to 900
hp and accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in
less than four seconds. They are only
capable of achieving that due to customized
and finely engineered components
underneath the bonnet - including
specially adapted compressor
housings, gearboxes, turbochargers, oil
pumps and throttlebodies. These are
produced by specialist manufacturers
such as Lütgemeier GmbH from Steinhagen
near Bielefeld in Germany. The
company has been manufacturing
vehicle and engine parts for renowned
car manufacturers such as the high-performance
tuning company Brabus from
Bottrop for more than 30 years. “We
can handle the entire manufacturing
process internally. Starting from the
design of the component, to casting
and post-processing, all the way down
to assembly and quality assurance, everything
happens in-house, at Lütgemeier
GmbH“, says CEO Jochen Hülsmann.
The challenge: In the automotive
industry, requirements and component
geometries are becoming increasingly
complex. The production of casting
molds in which the molten metal takes
on the shape of the component is thus
becoming more costly and time-consuming,
among other things, because an
elaborate production of special tools is
required. Nevertheless, in order to be
able to guarantee customers flexibility
and short delivery times, Lütgemeier
CEO Hülsmann searched for an automation
solution. He found it in voxeljet, a
manufacturer of industrial 3-D printing
systems with its head office in Friedberg
near Augsburg, Germany. Hülsmann
Lütgemeier employees
take over the
assembly of the
printed sand molds.
invested in the VX1000 PDB (Phenolic
Direct Binding), a professional 3-D-printing
system for industrial applications.
Developed and manufactured in Germany,
it measures 2800 x 2400 x 2300
mm and weighs 3.5 tonnes. „Having
had only good experiences with the
printed molds from the voxeljet service
centre, we decided to invest in our own
3-D printing system“, says Hülsmann.
“And the VX1000 prints very reliably”.
Therefore, current system utilization at
Lütgemeier is one hundred percent. In
peak periods of extremely high
demand, Lütgemeier continues to use
the proven voxeljet service in Friedberg
to satisfy the demand for 3-D-printed
components.
3-D printing system manufactures
molds without the
need for special tools
The VX1000 enables the automated
production of sand-casting molds. The
user uploads a CAD file, the digital
design plans of the sand mold onto the
3-D printing system. The so-called recoater
then applies a layer of silica sand
just 300 microns thick onto the 1000 x
600 x 500 millimetre large building platform.
The print head then selectively
doses a phenolic resin based binder on
those areas where the casting mold is to
be produced. A to the recoater attached
mobile infrared lamp then heats
the building platform in order to acce-
Several CNC milling machines and lathes
are available from Lütgemeier for post-processing
of castings.
CASTING PLANT & TECHNOLOGY 4/2019 47