---
title: "To cast 60 tonnes of metal, the VX9000 prints the empty space around it first"
locale: "en"
url: "https://irz.fr/en/articles/vx9000-print-mold-60-ton-en"
markdown_url: "https://irz.fr/en/articles/vx9000-print-mold-60-ton-en.md"
category: "craft"
tags: ["foundry", "3D printing", "binder jetting", "wind power", "manufacturing"]
published_at: "2026-08-23T18:00:00.000Z"
author: "Hugo Marchal"
translation: "https://irz.fr/fr/articles/vx9000-imprimer-moule-60-tonnes-fr.md"
---

# To cast 60 tonnes of metal, the VX9000 prints the empty space around it first

The VX9000 does not print the giant metal component. It prints its sand mold, and that detour is what cuts an announced ten-week preparation to about two.

When a foundry component weighs several dozen tonnes, melting enough metal is only part of the job, because before the pour begins someone still has to manufacture everything that gives the liquid metal its shape: patterns, molds, cores, assemblies and the tooling used to hold them together.

The VX9000 moves exactly that stage: rather than trying to 3D-print a 60-tonne turbine component in metal, it prints **the sand mold** that will later receive molten metal inside a conventional foundry.[1](https://www.exone.com/en/additive-manufacturing/case-studies/3d-printing-for-the-most-powerful-wind-turbine/)[3](https://www.igcv.fraunhofer.de/en/press_downloads/press_releases/sand_bitter_jetting_3d_printer_offshore_wind_turbines.html)

That distinction is the point, because additive manufacturing enters where a temporary, enormous and complicated geometry consumes weeks of preparation and then disappears after the casting has cooled, while the final metal still comes from a process the foundry industry already knows.

## Ten weeks

When GE Renewable Energy, Fraunhofer IGCV and voxeljet launched the Advanced Casting Cell in 2021, their baseline was unusually clear: producing the pattern and mold for some large Haliade-X castings could take **ten weeks or more** by conventional methods.[1](https://www.exone.com/en/additive-manufacturing/case-studies/3d-printing-for-the-most-powerful-wind-turbine/)[4](https://investor.voxeljet.com/press-releases/news-details/2021/GE-Renewable-Energy-Fraunhofer-IGCV-and-voxeljet-AG-Plan-to-Develop-Worlds-Largest-Sand-Binder-Jetting-3D-Printer-for-Offshore-Wind-Turbines/default.aspx)

The ACC target was to bring that preparation down to **about two weeks**,[1](https://www.exone.com/en/additive-manufacturing/case-studies/3d-printing-for-the-most-powerful-wind-turbine/)[3](https://www.igcv.fraunhofer.de/en/press_downloads/press_releases/sand_bitter_jetting_3d_printer_offshore_wind_turbines.html)[4](https://investor.voxeljet.com/press-releases/news-details/2021/GE-Renewable-Energy-Fraunhofer-IGCV-and-voxeljet-AG-Plan-to-Develop-Worlds-Largest-Sand-Binder-Jetting-3D-Printer-for-Offshore-Wind-Turbines/default.aspx) a figure that applies to the pattern-and-mold stage rather than suggesting that a 60-tonne metal component emerges from a machine after fourteen days.

> **What the two weeks replace**
> - conventional pattern and mold preparation for some giant castings: ~10 weeks+
> - announced ACC target for making the mold: ~2 weeks
> - the final metal component remains a foundry product: Still cast
> - the class of casting the molds are intended to support: Up to 60 t
> The two-week figure applies to mold preparation, not to the complete manufacture of the metal component.

The time saving comes from producing an intermediate object directly from digital geometry. A large physical pattern no longer has to be built first merely so that sand can be packed or formed around it.[1](https://www.exone.com/en/additive-manufacturing/case-studies/3d-printing-for-the-most-powerful-wind-turbine/)

## Printing sand

The underlying process is binder jetting: foundry sand is spread in a layer, a printhead selectively deposits liquid binder according to a digital cross-section, and the cycle repeats until the mold geometry exists inside the powder bed.[3](https://www.igcv.fraunhofer.de/en/press_downloads/press_releases/sand_bitter_jetting_3d_printer_offshore_wind_turbines.html)

Sand binder jetting itself is not new; what the VX9000 changes is the scale, with ExOne/voxeljet currently listing a build volume of roughly **9 × 7 × 1.2 m**, while the ACC architecture was conceived around molds for castings approaching **9.5 m in diameter and more than 60 tonnes**.[1](https://www.exone.com/en/additive-manufacturing/case-studies/3d-printing-for-the-most-powerful-wind-turbine/)[5](https://www.exone.com/en/3d-printers_overview/3d-printers_tailored-systems/)

> Illustration: Large VX9000 sand bed during a printing job. The VX9000 works on the mold, not the metal. The dark volume is foundry sand in which geometry is bound layer by layer. Credit: [voxeljet / Bosch Rexroth](https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/ch/blog/voxeljet-heavyweights-from-the-3d-printer/).

Scaling the process also makes small errors expensive, since a positioning error repeated across several metres can spoil a mold whose handling already requires industrial equipment.

Bosch Rexroth describes an **eight-metre linear axis with seven carriages** used to maintain the required printhead offsets.[2](https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/ch/blog/voxeljet-heavyweights-from-the-3d-printer/) Rails, ball screws and linear modules are not incidental hardware here; they are what keeps one continuous geometry accurate across a machine large enough for a person to stand inside its working area.[2](https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/ch/blog/voxeljet-heavyweights-from-the-3d-printer/)

> Illustration: Closer view of the VX9000 gantry above its sand bed. At this scale, accuracy depends on a multi-metre gantry and seven coordinated carriages. Depositing binder is only half the problem; staying aligned across the width is the other half. Credit: [voxeljet / Bosch Rexroth](https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/ch/blog/voxeljet-heavyweights-from-the-3d-printer/).

## The real test

The advertised “up to 60 tonnes” is a system target, not the weight of the casting used in the public 2025 validation.

That validation took place at Baettr in Sweden. ExOne/voxeljet says **20 benchmark molds** were processed in print jobs up to **7.5 metres long** under real foundry conditions, with a final casting weighing **7,200 kg**.[5](https://www.exone.com/en/3d-printers_overview/3d-printers_tailored-systems/)

Published results report dimensional tolerances within requirements, easier mold assembly, less cleaning because of improved surface finish, and no detectable casting defects in the validation work.[5](https://www.exone.com/en/3d-printers_overview/3d-printers_tailored-systems/)

This is more meaningful than proving that an enormous empty build volume exists, because the machine produced molds strong and accurate enough to survive handling, assembly and an actual metal pour.

A 7.2-tonne casting, however, is not the same as a 60-tonne one, and current descriptions can easily blur **target capacity**, **maximum machine dimensions** and **what has already been publicly validated**, even though those are three different claims.

> **Capacity / validation**
> - class of casting the ACC is intended to support: 60 t+
> - current published VX9000 build volume: 9 × 7 × 1.2 m
> - benchmarks processed at Baettr in 2025: 20 molds
> - weight of the final casting named in that validation: 7.2 t
> A 7.2-tonne validation does not yet demonstrate the entire announced range up to 60 tonnes.

## Foundry remains

This may be the most important part of the VX9000 story: additive manufacturing leaves the old production chain in place while removing one of its bottlenecks.

The sand is still foundry material, and the mold still has to be handled, assembled, filled with metal, cooled, broken away and cleaned; Fraunhofer IGCV's role includes casting thermal management, material proportions and digital process monitoring, with an explicit focus on avoiding costly print failures and even more costly miscasts.[3](https://www.igcv.fraunhofer.de/en/press_downloads/press_releases/sand_bitter_jetting_3d_printer_offshore_wind_turbines.html)

The machine also works with recycled molding sand compatible with existing foundry practice.[2](https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/ch/blog/voxeljet-heavyweights-from-the-3d-printer/)[6](https://www.voxelmatters.com/bosch-rexroth-voxeljet-and-fraunhofer-igcv-build-3d-printer-for-heavy-casting-molds/) Foundries therefore do not need a new metal feedstock or a new family of alloys merely to use the digital mold.

What disappears is part of the dedicated tooling that used to precede the pour. A mold can move more directly from file to material, including internal geometries that would be awkward to assemble conventionally.[1](https://www.exone.com/en/additive-manufacturing/case-studies/3d-printing-for-the-most-powerful-wind-turbine/)

## Print the disposable

3D printing is often discussed as a way to manufacture the final object, but the VX9000 is a reminder that, in industry, the better target may be exactly the opposite: **something designed to be destroyed after one use**.

A sand mold does not need to look beautiful, survive for years or become a product; it needs accuracy in the right places, enough strength for handling and pouring, and then the ability to release the object it contained.

At heavy-foundry scale, printing that temporary volume can be more rational than trying to print the metal itself. The partners are not reinventing casting; they are shortening the long preparation that kept the foundry several steps behind the digital file.

The VX9000 is therefore interesting for more than its size, because it chooses **the right thing to print: the empty space a 60-tonne component will need in order to exist.**

## References

1. [ExOne / voxeljet, 3D printing for the world’s most powerful wind turbine](https://www.exone.com/en/additive-manufacturing/case-studies/3d-printing-for-the-most-powerful-wind-turbine/)
2. [Bosch Rexroth, Heavyweights from the 3D printer](https://www.boschrexroth.com/en/ch/blog/voxeljet-heavyweights-from-the-3d-printer/)
3. [Fraunhofer IGCV, research partnership for the world’s largest sand 3D printer](https://www.igcv.fraunhofer.de/en/press_downloads/press_releases/sand_bitter_jetting_3d_printer_offshore_wind_turbines.html)
4. [voxeljet, GE Renewable Energy, Fraunhofer IGCV and voxeljet AG plan ACC](https://investor.voxeljet.com/press-releases/news-details/2021/GE-Renewable-Energy-Fraunhofer-IGCV-and-voxeljet-AG-Plan-to-Develop-Worlds-Largest-Sand-Binder-Jetting-3D-Printer-for-Offshore-Wind-Turbines/default.aspx)
5. [ExOne, tailored binder jetting systems — VX9000](https://www.exone.com/en/3d-printers_overview/3d-printers_tailored-systems/)
6. [VoxelMatters, Bosch Rexroth, voxeljet and Fraunhofer IGCV build 3D printer for heavy casting molds](https://www.voxelmatters.com/bosch-rexroth-voxeljet-and-fraunhofer-igcv-build-3d-printer-for-heavy-casting-molds/)