Be Ahead of the Competition in Iron Casting with Sand 3D Printing

Established in 1973 in the Orhangazi district in Bursa, Türkiye, Döktas is the country’s largest iron casting plant with an annual production capacity of about 150,000 tons and machining capabilities. The foundry specializes in producing grey and ductile iron castings for the automotive, heavy commercial vehicle, construction, and agricultural machinery industries. 

In 2019, the foundry decided to invest in an S-Max® Pro, ExOne’s fastest and smartest large 3D printer suitable for all kinds of mold and core production with any of the binders offered by ExOne. Döktas made this strategic decision to meet the increasing needs of customers in Türkiye and other European countries for prototyping projects.

Döktas believes that 3D printing’s strengths – shorter time to market and production agility – are crucial factors as these enable the foundry to bid on and win new projects. With the aid of 3D printing, Döktas also has more capabilities to produce different kinds of casting parts for various sectors. Moreover, Döktas also believes that digital casting with binder jet technology can fulfill the industry’s increasing design and performance requirements.

To date, Döktas has produced numerous sand 3D-printed mold packages for grey and ductile iron castings, not only for prototyping but also for serial productions. Download the case study to discover select challenging customer projects that Döktas completed successfully using the ExOne S-Max Pro. 

Image: The layout of 3D printed molds and cores produced on the S-Max Pro in two job boxes for the Güriş Rear Axle Housing casting.

“Castings are becoming more geometrically complex, and wall thicknesses are getting thinner. With 3D printing, it is possible to produce complex geometries with a smaller number of cores and the fact that there is no need for draft angles makes it possible to produce cast parts with thinner wall thickness.” 

Çağrı Yamantürk, Iron Casting Chief Technical Officer at Döktas