Elster Aeroteh plays a key role in the industry as the country’s main producer of equipment for gas measurement and regulation. Millions of people, from the large gas companies to the customers keeping toasty warm at home, depending on the meters, regulators and turbines created by Elster Aeroteh. Indirectly, same to the people who make the gas regulation assemblies. When Elster Aeroteh set out to produce a new, simpler pressure regulator model especially for the Romanian industry, it was important that it developed and manufactured locally—rather than in the company’s German parent location—not only to be competitive in emerging markets but also to ensure that many of the company’s Romanian manufacturing jobs would be safe.
Challenges:
Elster Aeroteh’s engineers had to verify that the assembly could function as designed and that it could be accurately produced in the Romanian facility. That meant extensive pressure testing, especially on the most vital piece in the assembly, a regulator housing. When Elster Aeroteh originally undertook testing on the housing, they used a prototype created via traditional CNC manufacturing. However, the results of their initial testing were unreliable. In fact, they had trouble even getting it to fit properly in their assembly. The geometry of the part being as complicated as it was, they discovered that CNC methods couldn’t produce the prototype at the level of detail required to get a true picture of its performance.
Solutions:
They went to LogiCAD Solutions for the design consultation to create an accurate cast aluminum alloy prototypes for the particular piece together with 3D Systems’ ProJet 3D Printer. Capable of creating RealWax micro-detail investment casting patterns, the ProJet MJP Wax Printer produces parts for everything from hardcore foundry applications to delicate jewelry designs. This versatile, touchscreen-equipped 3D printer features three print modes for varying levels of detail, the highest being on the order of 16-micron layer thickness.
“I showed Elster Aeroteh what they could accomplish with 3D printed wax technology,” said Dascalu. Without doubt, this is the type of situation that’s perfect for 3D printing, because 3D printing has virtually no geometry limitations.
Benefits:
In about three days, including CAD preparation, LogiCAD 
printed four wax test pieces on the ProJet MJP Wax Printer. Then they used the wax parts as casting patterns to produce the aluminum alloy test housings. After the casting process, LogiCAD used a CNC machine to get nominal dimensions for the assembling planes and for the threads. From CAD file to final test part the project only took about 12 days. The speed and economy with which LogiCAD finished the job helped Elster Aeroteh to rapidly move forward through testing and approve the assembly for final production, which they did. Today, at their Romanian facility, the company is creating these assemblies, using casting molds prepared through traditional manufacturing methods but based on the test pieces that Dascalu and LogiCAD created in the initial phases of development.