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Molding process is one of the mostly used manufacturing techniques. Conventional molds are
generally made in woods. These are mostly produced by CNC machine. Small changes in the design
requires remolding. This takes time and costs a lot. Additive manufacturing (AM) may lower the
design and optimization costs. This study aims to compare prototyping costs between additive and
classical manufacturing techniques for producing mold of Agitator Propeller. The Computer Aided
Design (CAD) model were prepared using Autodesk Inventor Software. Then, the model was exported
as STL file format for rapid prototyping. Hypercube Evolution desktop type 3D printer with 90-300
microns layer height manufacturing capacity was used to produce the sample. The printer settings
were prepared with Cura software. Infill density and layer height of specimen were determined as 20%
and 200 microns, respectively. The heated bed temperature was selected as 60°C to increase bonding
and surface quality. The produced propellers were used as manufacturing the casting molds. The
model development using wood and 3D printing were compared in terms of technical and economical
aspects. Dimensional accuracy was measured with a caliper. The cost effectiveness analysis was
systematically conducted using Excel. The results from the cost-benefit analysis indicated that using
3D printers lowered the prototyping cost as much as three times.
International Congress on 3D Printing (Additive Manufacturing) Technologies and Digital Industry
3D-PTC2019
Pınar Demircioğlu
İsmail Böğrekçi
Neslihan Demir
Utku Köse