Investment Castings

Production - Our Production Engineers have the responsibility for casting production design and supervision. They work in cooperation with the Q.C. department to make sure each aspect of the specifications are met accurately, promptly and in a cost effective way.

Support Facilities

RADIOGRAPHIC INSPECTION
ULTRASONIC TESTING
MAGNETIC PARTICLE INSPECTION
PENETRANT INSPECTION
METALLURGICAL TESTING
HEAT TREATING
DIE MAKING
PATTERN MAKING
LIGHT MACHINING

Which casting process is best? The volume of parts is not a critical factor in choosing the best casting process but the secondary manufacturing steps are. These secondary steps can add substantially to the cost of a manufactured part. Therefore using the casting process that reduces or eliminates the secondary processes is most critical. Investment Casti ng is the process that is most effective at reducing the requirement for secondary manufacturing steps, therefore lowering the cost of parts plus the following advantages:

Better design flexibility for parts with complex shapes
Weight Reduction
Close Tolerances
Better Surface Finish
Zero Draft
Minimum Mismatch
Casting Repeatability

If your part doesn't require most of the advantages of the Investment Casting process shown above you should consider the less costly Sand Casting process.

RECOMMENDED INVESTMENT CASTING DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

Surface Finish

C30

Linear Tolerances

Up to 1/2" ± .005

Up to 4" ± .010

Up to 6" ± .015

Up to 7" ± .017

Up to 8" ± .019

Up to 9" ± .020

Up to 10" ± .025

Flatness & Straightness

Length Tolerance

Up to 1" sq. w/in .010

Up to 2" sq. w/in .015

Up to 4" sq. w/in .020

Up to 6" sq. w/in .030

Over 6" sq. ± .005 in/in

Concentricity

When a length of a tubular part does not exceed its component diameters by more than a factor of 2, the diameters will be concentric within .005 inch per inch of separation.

Roundness

Length T/R - or Difference Between Diameters

1. .050 .010

2. 1.00 .015

3. 1.50 .020

4. 2.00 .025

5. Over 2.00 Linear tolerances apply

Angles

± .030° or ± .055 in/in, whichever is greater

Draft

In general, the investment castings process does not require draft on any surface

Serration or Knurls and Texture

Can be cast with sharp detail provided it can be designed into the tooling.

Holes

Hole length is a function of the diameter of the hole. Typically 1/8" dia. hole can be cast 1" long; a 1/2" hole can be cast 6" long. The length of blind holes can be cast 3 times their diameter.