Investment Casting
Investment cast components are accurate castings which can incorporate high levels of detail, and reduce the amount of machining required, compared to a sand cast component. There are a wide variety of materials that can be investment cast, For example; High strength steels, stainless steels, aluminium bronze, high tensile brass and aluminium.
There are several in the process of making an investment cast component.
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Laser scan – the component is scanned, this gives a 3D point cloud that accurately represents the size and shape of the part.
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Casting CAD model – CAD geometry is drawn incorporating machining allowance and casting contraction/shrinkage including wax shrinkage.
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Finished machined CAD model – another CAD model is created to represent the finished machined part this incorporates all machining, drilling, tapping, boring features.
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Engineering drawing – from the CAD model engineering drawings are produced to provide to the machine shop who then machine the casting.
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Tool design – wax injection dies are designed from the casting model and then machined from billet aluminium.
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Castings – the wax injection dies are used by the foundry to produce castings.
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Machining – the castings are then machined to produce the finished component.
We can supply a finished product at any stage of the process above.
