06/28/2023
At Invest Cast, we are experts in all things investment casting. Today we would like to highlight 2 of our most popular services, Prototyping and Production. These services often get confused, but the differences are quite important.
Prototyping is used for low-volume or quick turn-around projects with wide tolerances. Our team creates an SLS pattern within just a few hours without any tools through the use of a 3D printer. These patterns are then “wax welded” to a central sprue or cluster to facilitate pouring and shell building. Once the shells are formed, they are de-waxed by rapidly heating in a furnace or autoclave, leaving behind the perfect shell cavity. From there, a shell is formed through a smooth, hard, and strong ceramic material. Through this process, we are able to create parts up to 100 pounds and can make parts that require multiple pieces that can even be welded together if necessary.
Whereas production follows the same process steps but produces a high volume of products with annual or repeat orders. When creating a production product, we must follow tight tolerances (±.005”/in, ±1.00°), and tooling is necessary to complete this production. Our production process offers a wide array of alloys and is currently poured in alloy steel, tool steel, stainless steel, cobalt base, nickel base, copper base, and aluminum base. This process allows us to create parts up to 50 pounds, and we are able to use existing tools, and then parts are brought through the investment casting process.
Learn more about our prototyping and production processes through our website now: https://buff.ly/3V2rhmi
