Design Support
Investment casting design support is a key benefit we offer customers. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, the process looks different with every project and partner. Our engineering team have the specialisms and capabilities to design your part for you. Or, we can work in a more consultative and collaborative capacity to finalise your design requirements.
Maximum Value
We believe that early involvement provides you with maximum value across the project lifecycle. By aligning thinking and expectations at an early stage, you get clarity around timings and budget. We pride ourselves on our ability to reach the best part and outcome and the best total cost of ownership, together.
Initial Design Considerations
To reach a right-first-time delivery, it’s important to make sure that the design is right-first-time, too. We can work with anything from sample parts and 2D drawings through to modern CAD files. Our engineering team turn your early designs into 3D CAD files.
This makes it easy to produce rapid prototypes to realise your final designs with dimensional accuracy. That’s why we advise you consider the following during our initial discussions about your investment castings project.
- Flatness & Straightness – Try and use uniform thicknesses on flat surfaces where possible.
- Blind Holes – The depth of a blind hole should not exceed its width.
- Draft Angle – Unlike other metal forming techniques, draft angles are not required for wax injection tools.
- Undercuts – Can increase the complexity of the wax tooling. This can increase initial costs and reduce lifetime of tooling. However, there is no shape that cannot be tooled.
- Gating Design – The number of gates required for sound casting solidification directly influences the cost of your project. You can minimise the need for multiple gates by avoiding thick-to-thin sections. Ideally thicknesses are uniform or move in a gradient from thinnest to thickest.
Case Studies
FAQs
How do I design for investment casting?
Designing for investment casting requires careful consideration of geometry, material, and manufacturability. We recommend collaborating with engineers to adhere to casting guidelines, optimise part geometry, and validate designs with simulation. Collaboration ensures alignment between design and manufacturing capabilities.
Do you have investment casting engineers who can help me?
Yes, we have expert engineers around the world who are on hand to help realise your designs and make sure they are optimised for investment casting.
What do I need to provide to get help with design support?
To provide effective design support, we typically require detailed specifications, 3D CAD models, drawings, and any relevant project requirements or constraints. The more information you can provide upfront, the better we can tailor our recommendations to meet your needs.
Get In Touch
We take pride in building successful, long-term relationships with our clients, because their reputation is our priority.
If that sounds like an investment castings partner you’d like to work with, you can book an introduction call with our friendly and knowledgeable New Relations Team — in a language and time zone to suit you.