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Cast Metal Production
Annual or repeat orders.
Exceptional ROI for your production or prototyping projects.
SOME OF THE BENEFITS INCLUDE:
Extreme freedom
At Invest Cast, Inc. we know product design is ever-changing and always improving. That’s why we allow you extreme freedom in part design. Your vision and our flexibility ensure that your ideas become reality – with speed and precision.
Excellent Surface Finish
Production – 100 RMS or Better
Prototype – 175 RMS is typical
Wide Selection of Alloys
Over 90 alloys are currently poured in alloy steel, tool steel, stainless steel, cobalt base, nickel base, copper base and aluminum base.
Economical Low and High Volume Process
Low volume production can be accomplished with relatively simple, single cavity tools while high volume production requirements can be met with fully automated multiple cavity molds.
Close Tolerances
Standard tolerances are ±.005″ per inch, 1/2 of Standard is possible.
Thinwalls
Wall thickness can be cast as thin as .025″, depending on alloy and part configuration.
CAD to Casting in a little as a few days
Prototypes generated from CAD File to Casting generally within days of receiving your order.
Production is best used when:
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Higher volume with annual or repeat orders.
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Tight tolerances (±.005”/in, ±1.00°). The surface finish is 125RMS or better.
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Tooling needed. We can use existing or have new tooling made (for wax injection). Then parts are brought through the investment casting process.
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Parts up to 50 pounds.
HOW IT WORKS
Production Casting Process
Wax Injection
The first step in the investment casting process is to produce a wax replica of the desired part. This is accomplished by injecting wax or plastic into a die cavity.
Pattern Removal
After injection, the wax replica is removed from the injection tool. Parts are inspected for tolerance and then cleaned for assembly.
Wax Assembly
Patterns are “wax welded” to a central sprue or cluster to facilitate pouring. Many patterns are attached to sprues for increased efficiency
Shell Building
The assembled sprue is then dipped or “invested” in into a ceramic slurry. After draining, the sprue is then coated or “stuccoed” with a fine ceramic sand. This process is repeated several times using progressively coarser grades of ceramic material to “build” sufficient “shell” strength.
De-waxing
The shell built sprue is then de-waxed by rapidly heating in a furnace or autoclave leaving behind the perfect shell cavity.
Preheating shell
The shells are then fired at 1600° to 2000°. This cures the shells interior into smooth, hard and strong ceramic material.
Pouring
The hot sprues are then removed from the furnace and poured immediately. The poured shells are then set aside to cool.
Part Finishing
When cool the shell material is stripped away from the sprue. Parts are then cut from the sprue.
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