By Liz Stevens, writer, The American Mold Builder

3D metal printing, a form of additive manufacturing (AM), has earned a reputation among mold builders for the complex conformal cooling channels that it can produce. Better cooling in molds yields faster cycle times and higher part quality. But beyond this increasingly common use, the technology is an affordable option for producing other mold insert parts, to speed up production, and for producing tools and fixtures. And mold builders find that having AM in the shop is attractive to young
job applicants.

 
Steve Michon, owner of Zero Tolerance, LLC, Clinton Township, Michigan, is giving 3D metal printing a workout in his shop. Zero Tolerance offers plastics injection mold design, development and manufacturing for medical applications, complex aerospace applications, consumer products and military technical devices. The company is at the forefront of technology, using 5-axis machining as well as wire and sinker EDM. Its latest addition is an XM200G 3D metal printer from Xact Metal.
 
Xact Metal, State College, Pennsylvania, produces metal powder-bed fusion 3D printers – including the XM200G family of printers – which use a laser to melt consecutive layers on a metal powder-bed. The finished parts can incorporate complex internal and external geometries. The company’s senior sales manager, Scott Kraemer, has a mold design and mold building background. He has known Zero Tolerance’s Steve Michon for years through common experience in molding building, mutual contacts and AMBA membership.
 
Collaborators
Kraemer is collaborating with Michon to gain customer feedback and brainstorm mold building ideas. The pair recently presented a case study on 3D metal printing to the AMBA Emerging Leaders group. The American Mold Builder talked with them for insight into how mold builders can use this technology beyond its ‘no-brainer’ conformal cooling applications.
 
“Kraemer and I have connected over the years to explore new tooling, design and technologies,” said Michon. “Our latest partnership is about 3D printing – for conformal cooling, yes, but also for other parts which couldn’t be done in a traditional manufacturing style.” Kraemer sees Zero Tolerance as a great customer with whom to work. “In looking for a mold shop to help support the growing demand for printing mold inserts,” said Kraemer, “we wanted an owner who was open to adopting new technologies. Michon always has been progressive about new ways of getting things done.”

 
Their collaboration aids the greater mold building industry as well. “People take Michon’s vision and mindset seriously,” said Kraemer. “They see what he does to help educate the industry, and that he takes risks that not everyone is willing to take. Michon is incorporating additive manufacturing into his shop’s workflow and his success shows the industry that there are affordable 3D metal printing solutions that can deliver results from the day a new printer hits the shop floor.”
 
Putting 3D Metal Printing to Work
Michon has found many uses for 3D metal printing in his shop’s workflow. “For one job, I 3D-printed the rough inserts and the customer machined them afterward to fit into its tooling,” said Michon. “There are many things that can be made with 3D-printing that would be too expensive to machine.” Zero Tolerance also uses 3D metal printing for hand loads, tools, inserts, slides, lifters and even small cavity core blocks.
 
“Is this technology a panacea? No, not yet,” said Michon. “Is there a fit for it? Yes. It must be the right solution for the right application. It’s like comparing an EDM machine to a mill; they are two different operations. 3D printing is another tool that allows us to do things that we would not or could not normally do, like making little fixtures that aren’t a big deal, but that add up as you use them. I’m always looking to find where this could work, where it makes sense to use it.”
 
Kraemer recalled an Xact Metal customer who spent 12 hours at his traditional machines to get a part machined to a satisfactory point, whereas by using AM, the job could have been done almost entirely through unattended processing. Kraemer also cited a customer who used AM in an innovative way. “This customer produces pistons,” he said. “They use 3D metal printing not for directly producing the pistons but, instead, for creating custom cutting tools needed for producing the pistons. That is a great example of using 3D printing differently than what moldmakers might expect.”

Kraemer noted that 3D printing can be used for replacing broken brackets on machinery, for holders, for mesh-type prints and for filters.

 
Performance Review
Kraemer is practical about where 3D printing fits into the big picture. “We promote 3D printing realistically,” he said. “We don’t promise the moon; we market a workhorse printer that can be used to make mold inserts or anything that fits within our build envelope. The industry needs an affordable solution in metal additive, and we offer that.”

The Xact Metal solution includes material options, such as alternatives to maraging steel, which has limitations as a material. “We partnered with Uddeholm,” said Kraemer, “to offer corrosion-resistant Corrax – which some mold shops use in plate form. We also have partnered with Sandvik to offer MAR55, which bridges the gap between H13 and maraging steel.”
 
At Zero Tolerance, Michon has found that working with 3D metal printing can be exciting, challenging or frustrating, depending upon its suitability for a job. Michon described one of the most exciting aspects. “It is incredible that it can make a watertight steel-printed insert,” he said. “It is made in layers, but no water comes through it. That is mind-blowing.” Michon also is enthused about 3D printing ceramics. “Ceramics can be useful for making prototypes affordably and quickly,” he said. “For a customer that needs only 100 injection-molded parts, we could print the cavity cores in ceramic and make the parts without destroying the cores. They can’t hold up like steel or aluminum, but ceramics provide a short-term prototyping solution.”
 
Michon described a challenging 3D metal printing job that nonetheless had a good outcome. “We had a mold with a cam-shaped arc,” said Michon. “We 3D-printed an insert for a curved shape – this whole tool turned with a cam action. Even after engineering changes that were laser-welded and re-machined, the insert proved to be amazing. There was more movement than normal but as it was machined, heat treated and processed further, it still worked well. That was definitely a success.”
 
In some cases, 3D printing is just a no-go. “For printing a whole cavity or core,” Michon said, “3D printing would be very time consuming. It is cost prohibitive unless it is needed for a small or complicated job. We find it best to use the conventional way to do most of the simple structure and use 3D printing for the complex sections.”
 
Workforce Recruiting
Michon and Kraemer see 3D printing as attractive to the workforce. “Nowadays, almost every student has done 3D printing,” said Kraemer, “and it is a good avenue for bringing more young adults into the manufacturing space.” At his shop, Michon has veteran workers as well as newbies on board. “3D printing won’t single-handedly fill the workforce gap,” he said, “but if we use new technologies for making fixtures, etc., that’s useful.” He knows that he will lose his aging expert workers and is teaching new hires how to get the best-suited jobs done with AM methods. “The younger workers don’t see any limitations to this technology like we older guys may see,” said Michon. “I know what I can do with the traditional methods, but the young workers think that 3D is traditional. They don’t see limitations, and they are willing to try more things than an old-school tool maker would be willing to try.”
 
Michon is not moving away from traditional mold building techniques to exclusively teach 3D printing. “It still is important to teach the fundamentals so that the new workers understand how the technology evolved to this point,” said Michon. “They need to understand the traditional methods to appreciate the capabilities and limitations of additive manufacturing.”
 
Zero Tolerance Pushes Forward; Xact Metal Makes More Inroads
Asked if Zero Tolerance was using 3D printing to its fullest potential, Michon replied, “Probably not. These are AM tools that we get comfortable using in a certain way and we may not learn about time-saving new features. The tools and software are getting better, faster than ever.” It requires time and continuous education to stay on top of the technological changes. “But we can’t afford not to explore,” said Michon, “because it could make or break a job.”
 
More mold builders are exploring and adopting new technologies. According to Kraemer, 3D metal printing is gaining traction among mold builders. “In 2024,” said Kraemer, “35% of our sales were to the molding industry; this year, they are projected to be about the same. We are having more discussions – weekly – with AMBA member mold shops, molders and OEMs on how they can adopt 3D metal printing for tooling. The interest is definitely growing.”
 
3D metal printing for mold builders is proven for conformal cooling. That, however, is just the most well-known application for this method of additive manufacturing. More mold builders likely will join Steve Michon and Zero Tolerance in exploring how this technology can be put to work in the shop – for inserts, fixtures, machine tools, slides, lifters, small-cavity core blocks and more.
 
More information: www.xactmetal.com and www.zerotolerancecnc.com