Overheard a new guy at the Pittsburgh plant call our old core boxes 'relics' while he was setting up his 3D printed ones, which got me thinking about whether we're holding onto tradition too tightly or if the old ways are just more reliable.

I'm torn because those printed cores are fast and perfect every time, but I've seen a steel-to-iron pour from a 40 year old wooden box hold a tolerance a plastic one just can't... what's your take on new tech versus proven gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaron88424d ago

Ha, that's a real shop floor debate. When you say the plastic one can't hold the tolerance, is that from a heat warping issue during the pour, or is it a flex problem in the core box itself?

cooper.phoenix24d ago

Man, you gotta run both. Use the printed boxes for prototypes and short runs where speed matters, but keep the old steel and wood boxes for your high volume production. The heat from a big pour will absolutely wreck plastic over time, no matter what the sales guy says.

grace50824d ago

Ugh, totally seen this happen. We tried a printed box for a simple repeat job, just a basic manifold. After like fifty pours, the walls started to bow out ever so slightly. Nothing crazy, but enough that the cores were scraping during ejection. Switched back to the old metal box and it ran another thousand with zero drama. That plastic just gets tired.