253: Direct Casting with Additive Manufactured Patterns

Team Members:
James Driesenga, Riley Simpson, Camden
Miner, Zach Schwab, TC Swittel, and Sean Frank,
Mechanical Engineering
Advisor
: Bob Page, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering
Mechanics
Sponsor
: Mercury Marine
Project Overview:
We have been asked by Mercury Marine to
develop a lost-foam style casting process
that uses a 3D printed pattern instead of
expanded polystyrene. Expanded polystyrene
allows for complete part filling, but the cost
and time required to create a new pattern out
of polystyrene are much too high due to the
pattern tooling. 3D printing patterns would
eradicate the need for pattern tooling and
significantly reduce the time required to produce a pattern
.