The Tour was part of an ongoing effort to establish a Workforce Center in Decatur with Vincennes as an anchor tenant

Decatur, IN – In the early hours on Monday February 11th, a charter bus filled with prominent community leaders rolled out of town on its 240 mile trek to Vincennes University in Southern Indiana.  Amongst those traveling with the group were city and county officials, influential business people, community based non-profit groups, and officials from multiple school districts.  The trip was organized by a few business leaders and community representatives that have been discussing turning a local building into a Career Training center.

 “We have been in dialogue with Vincennes University for the last few months about offering workforce development and educational services from within Adams County to serve as a regional resource,” explained James Teeple, Workforce Development Director for Adams County Economic Development.  “A consortium of regional leaders was invited to journey with us to Vincennes to confer with the university’s president, Chuck Johnson and his administrative staff.”

“The university provided a very insightful tour of both the Vincennes Campus as well as their Gene Haas Technical Education Center in Lebanon,” Teeple continued. “They have reiterated their commitment to support the implementation of an educational service hub or career center in Decatur. The intent of the trip was to demonstrate potentiality of such services and resulting economic impact to the region. From that perspective it was a very worthwhile outing.”

Local businesses are very supportive of the endeavor as it is important for their current needs as well as the longevity of their companies.  Decatur business owner Keith Gerber shared his company’s struggle and why this is important to businesses.  “Workforce Development for Hoosier Pattern is cultivating from within our Adams/Wells High Schools. This bus tour gave us a vision of what is within our grasp to create a community career center. It would allow us to skill up our present workforce, as well as develop an awareness and the skills needed for high school students for well-paying “no debt” careers. We currently struggle to find qualified employees amongst current potential applicants. A career center along with better marketing ideas to attract these students to take a look at what we have to offer is crucial for longevity for my business.”

Overall the event was very successful.  As the bus pulled back into town late that evening, Adams Wells Manufacturing Alliance’s Director, Joe Elkins, summed it up best, “I was very impressed by the "Hands On" approach taken by Vincennes University.  The skills taught there can result in high-paying jobs that are sorely needed by Adams and Wells County manufacturers.”

write up provided by Trevor Hobbs

We are one month into 2019 and things have already been happening here at Hoosier Pattern. 2018 was a crazy year and we are looking forward to what 2019 has in store, not only for us as a company, but for the industry as a whole. Last year was a year of expansion for HPI. In July, we added a third sand printer as well as expanded the sand cleaning/packing  area giving us room to expand increased printed product from these sand printers.  

In the fall of 2018, HPI added 2 Johnford bridge mills to our list of machinery. Both bridge mills have the same travel size of 83”x 70” The size capacity of these bridge mills allow us to take on larger jobs that once had to be turned away.

Journeyman Patternmaker, Phillip Bauman and Apprentice Patternmaker Kyle Rittmeyer, collaborating on a project infront of a Johnford bridge mill

We also announced last year that we were installing a Kuka™ robotic milling cell. This robotic milling cell allows us to machine foundry sand molds or plastic patterns. As of now we are able to mill sizes up to 60x100”. Training on the robotic milling cell for our workforce will take place in early February to help educate our team to communicate with the robot. This new technology will give our customers more tools to assist them to bring their finished goods to market sooner.  Be on the lookout for updates regarding the robotic milling cell.
 
The new robotic milling cell in the shop 

Lastly, we added a new Creaform™ laser scanner to our list of technology. New training for this scanner has been underway to enhance our knowledge and better provide quality inspections of our machined products.

The new Creaform™ laser scanner in the quality room ready to be put to work on some practice scans

Customers have always been the driving force behind our business and these purchases are no different. We look forward to what 2019 holds and seeing how our capabilities are expanded with these additions. Staying on the cutting edge of technology is what makes Hoosier Pattern different and sets us apart from the rest. We take pride in welcoming "out of the box" concepts and making sure that every job leaves our doors with the highest standard of quality. We know these new technologies will help us continue to keep doing great things here inside the walls of Hoosier Pattern.

Foundry Uses HPI's 3D Sand Printer To Make Deadline

Dalton Foundry of Warsaw, Indiana had a case to solve for a customer—and time was running out.

Client: Dalton Foundry

Product: Gear Case Housing

Batch Size: Prototype (20)

Product Size: 29" x 26" x 12"

Material Cast: Class 30 Gray Iron

Traditional Method Cost & Timeframe: 8 Weeks at $13,000.00

HPI's 3D Sand Printing Method Cost & Timeframe: 1 Week at $1,165.00

Product Overview

The problem part in question was a section of 443-pound gray iron gear case. The corners—or ribs—in several points were cracking during the casting process. The gear case cover housing is used in industrial air compressors found at work sites to generate air and power. This was a prototype casting that was scheduled to go into production but couldn't be moved forward in the process if the end result was cracked.

Client Challenges

Dalton attempted several different processes and gating-related modifications, but a crack kept appearing. Because of the location and nature of the crack, Dalton employees thought the cracking may be a result of stress during the solidification process. Repeated simulations were run referencing the original design, which led to the conclusion that the defects were related to the design itself. The stress in the casting was the result of the original design’s base being so large that it took much longer to solidify than the other areas of the casting.

Our Solution

A plan was put in place to cut the metal tooling again, but the redesign of the part took much longer than expected. Now time was becoming critical to the project. It was at this point that Dalton turned to Hoosier Pattern and opted to make the cores using our 3D sand printer. In this specific case, Dalton saw the 3D printer could print directly from the CAD file without the upfront tooling cost—this was groundbreaking, especially with a prototype piece that had a history of cracking. With our 3D sand printing capabilities, design changes could be made quickly and a new core could be printed and pour-ready within days.

Results & Conclusion

The first pour using the 3D printed sand core was a success—no defects or cracks were found on the prototype. Twenty additional castings were needed and all of them were poured flawlessly using the 3D printed cores. Not only were there zero defects, but all the prototypes were made in a few days rather an in the few weeks a traditional tooling method would have required.

Our Competitive Advantage

Hoosier Pattern works very closely with all of our customers, enabling our designers to make changes on the fly to keep projects moving forward and meet customers’ needs and deadlines. Hoosier Pattern's 3D sand printer operation is effective and more practical for quick turnaround times.

"Our customer was up against the wall needing parts. We were aware of 3D printing and that a printed core would be turned in less than a week. The success of the part required two leaps of technological faith: stress simulation and using printed cores. Both worked out great" - Rob Burita, Tooling Engineer, Dalton Foundry