We are job shop making a very tight tolerance component on stainless steel. Someone suggested that having part of the job done with investment casting would cut our machining costs and give us a smooth finish. What are the advantages of investment casting verses sand casting, and which method would be better for me. Price as always is an issue.
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What are the advantages of Investment casting?
(4 posts) (4 voices)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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Investment casting is also known as the "lost wax casting method". When this method is correctly applied it provides a high precison cast part. Titanium Turbine Blades are made this way and the typical machining required after casting is very minimal. Usually this machining is something like drilling and tapping for fastening the part to an assembly.
This method uses an exact model of the actual part made in "wax" which is then imbeded in a high precision conformal casting media. The molten metal flows into the mold melting away the wax prototype of the part and forming the precision metal version of the part.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Guru,
Investment casting is the industry I am employed in for my daytime work (I run my business on the side).
The primary benefits to this process are precision, surface finish, and cost/scaleability (price goes down fast with increases in volume - which sand casting can't keep scale with).
Take a look at the Investment Casting Institute's video on their site at http://www.investmentcasting.org for a more detailed runthrough. If you have over 20% material removal from your billet, then it could probably save you money to look at this alternative.
If you would like our group to look at you project, let me know - we can get connected to get you a Non-disclosure agreement signed and quote your parts.Rgds,
JohnPosted 2 years ago # -
Investment casting has many advantages over sand castings. The sand wash and blow hole problems in sand castings are negligible here. For S.S. castings the fixed cost addition would not be very high as like in alloy steels. We have (in India) @ 15% cost addition for S.S. Investment casting over sand casting. This is though saved in the weight difference for machining allowances we need to provide for sand castings. Surface finish is second important and third you can virtually pour any intricate design in Investment.
The only limitation is on weights. It may be difficult to pour a casting above 200lbs by lost wax process.
Posted 2 years ago #
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