Technical 3D printed exhaust manifold?

I was at Oakridge a week or so ago . Lots of rather large lazer 3D printings in the area . Including a complete WW2 Military Jeep . Seen lots of heavy support beams , in strange shapes that were printed . Uncle Sugar money has no effects on if we should try it or not . This is an interesting place to visit and research . I’m not sure America has the drive it had at the time this project was completed .

 

That’s Great! At the rate I get stuff done, I should be ready by then.

 

where can we find out more about the jeep?

 

Most cost effective way for this kind of project is to get a job with one of the companies that does this, preferably on the night shift.

When finished, don't post it on a public forum for management to see, like one of my coworkers did.

 

Museum of Science and Energy , Oakridge

 

Very cool

 

There is also technology out there for 3D printing of sand. With the proper CAD files both sand molds and sand cores can be printed. This process is now being used for prototype castings and very low run production. It eliminates the tooling cost for patterns and core boxes. The process has been around for a while but have no idea how much it would be for a set of exhaust manifolds.

 

All other things aside,that EX looks sexy

 

True that! HRP

 

I’ve often had the thought about money, really big money, that you earned and made with what ever means you had and you did what YOU wanted with apportion of it.
The dot.com craze made many. Sitting with people, admiring what you did, hating you, envy: or what ever but you wanted to build this type car and like it or not money was no object or concern.
Thank you because I, like many, enjoy it …… like them or not the Riddler and AMBR makes these all possible

 

Center dump Chevy V8 works for me.

 

Here is printed sand mold that pours 2 banger intake manifolds, waaaaay more affordable process than DMLS



There are also machines that will build up material layer by layer using a CNC mig welder, then machine the OD skin into final shape

 

Hypothetical question:
If someone wins the lottery and buys a $500K printer plus $$$$ supplies, then 3D prints a '32 Ford coupe, the build thread will be welcome here???
Just asking for a friend.

 

I like to read and hear about this stuff, even though I'm not going to be a user.
I'd imagine this tech can be done either thru the night shift/down time/buddy deal in a fully equipped shop and will trickle down to much more DIY friendly levels. Lots of smaller parts can and will be done for rodding. It will probably also be outsourced and develop the same saturation and stigma as 'billet' parts.
Exhaust manifolds strike me as similar to custom glass. Only really viable for a dedicated custom business at high cost, due to the operating conditions of the product. This is an area where objects using fast burn smokeless powder could be made, which brings in all sorts of eyes and fears.

 

Yep, Just finished up a project with FECoffin were we casted up a pair of Ford MEL blower intake manifolds using 3D printed molds. The cast surface finish is little wonky due to the layering effect from the 3D printer, but I guess that is what the polisher is for.

Was it cheap? No, but probably not any worse than a hand fabbed and welded sheet metal intake.

 

The future is now

 

Frozenmerc, that looks like a 3d printed mold. I have seen a few at the foundry I use. They don't know much about them. How close tolerance can they produce? Any other info you can share? Thanks, I too like to read about this type of tech. Amazing stuff going on here.

 

Yup sir. 6ish years ago, story in one of the manufacturing mags we get at work.
Someone printed a fully operational 1911 style .40 or .45 cal. in stainless.
Only thing not printed was springs.

 

Except for the temperature required for the exhaust manifolds this link shows intake manifolds Kelly Coffield has made using the lost foam process. I tried to link the Utube video but was not successful. His name works though.
I poured a set of exhaust spacers in cast iron for Jeep using this same method but have not had great luck repeating it because the iron evaporates the foam too quickly and aspirates air. Aluminum vaporizes the foam at a slower rate so it is a go to method for one off castings.

 

https://3dspro.com/resources/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-metal-3d-printing-cost

https://all3dp.com/2/how-much-does-a-metal-3d-printer-cost/

 

Yes, as I stated, it is a 3D printed mold. As far as the tolerances, I would say they are as good if not better than typical cope and drag sand casting. Of course, with a production run of two, tolerances are of little consequence and I built a fair amount of extra material into the raw as-cast model, just to make sure the critical flanges would clean up during machining. 3/16" to 1/4" of extra material on all machined surfaces created a nice pile of shavings.



The critical step is the engineering of the mold itself. The shrink rates need to be calculated correctly and the cores designed such that they are properly supported and don't move during the pour. We had a little shift with the thermostat housing area that was discovered during final machining. Not a big deal, and nothing that couldn't be fixed with a bit of welding. The machining pattern was adjusted for the 2nd manifold, and it came out perfect. The rest of the manifold was spot on and Hoosier Pattern did an excellent job of designing the mold.

I would love to make about 5 more and sell them, especially now that the mold design is completed. But it is a very small market as there aren't too many folks interested in building a blown MEL, and I doubt I would be able to make any sort of profit on the endeavor.

 

Performance manifolds would be a leg up on headers in maintenance, and underhood heat management. Luv my manifolds on my big block truck, bought ceramic headers, still hanging on wall, were stupid expensive.
Timing for this opportunity might be now.

 

I have often thought 3D printing would be a great asset to this hobby. There are many fine parts that are out of production, even more so when you get out of the Ford stuff, that could be replicated with 3D printing & manufactured anywhere by anyone.

 

Frozenmerc, thanks for the explanation. How many cycles are the 3d printed molds good for? I have heard that the printer blows sand continually and adds glue for the mold and stops in the cavity. When finished the whole block looks like sand until you blow out the cavity. Is that true?

 

And it's slow, so you're paying for a big chunk of the machine.

 

Yup, one thin layer of sand at a time, with the printer being basically a big inkjet laying down glue between sand layers. When the printing cycle is complete, a big box of sand. A little time with a vacuum reveals the mold segments. Mold segments are cleaned and assembled, then delivered to the foundry for pour. Like all sand castings, molds are destroyed after each pour

 

Thanks Kevin. I was afraid that they were used up just once. The Amish foundry I use has had some 3d printed molds but they really have no understanding how they are made. I was hoping they could be used a few times. The ones I have seen look like a work of art. The maker ever prints a picture of the part on the outside with a part number so the mold can be easily recognized. The big benefit would be not having to make a pattern. It would go straight from the computer screen to mold.