If you’ve ever delayed production due to long pattern lead times or struggled with complex wear-resistant part designs, you’re not alone. Traditional mold-making has bottlenecked foundries for decades — but innovation is here.
Advances in binder jetting 3D printing are reshaping how foundries produce crusher hammers, conveyor liners, and other high-wear components. Here’s what’s changing in 2025.
Unlike traditional methods requiring physical wood/metal patterns, 3D printed sand molds are built layer by layer using industrial binder jetting. A print head deposits sand and binding agent based on digital CAD models, creating precise, ready-to-pour molds without patterns.
Key advantages:
✅ No pattern costs or storage – ideal for custom/low-volume jobs
✅ Faster iterations – design changes take hours, not weeks
✅ Complex geometries – produce shapes impossible with conventional patterns
New technical improvements now make printed molds viable for production-scale casting:
Enhanced strength: 4.5 MPa tensile strength (comparable to conventional shell molds)
Smooth surface finish: Ra ≤ 6.3 µm, reducing finishing needs for mining equipment parts
Material flexibility: Compatible with high-chromium iron, steel, and non-ferrous alloys
*“We recently printed a mold for a multi-core crusher hammer — reduced casting defects by 40% thanks to optimized gating.”*
— Liu Yang, Manufacturing Innovation Lead
A Singapore-based supplier of quarry wear parts achieved:
| Metric | Traditional Molding | 3D Printed Molds |
|---|---|---|
| Lead Time | 20 days | 3 days |
| Cost (Batch of 10) | ~$9,000 | ~$2,700 |
| Design Revision | 2 weeks | 4 hours |
Data: International Journal of Metalcasting, Q3 2025
Consider 3D printing if you need:
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