Investment (Lost Wax) Casting is a precision manufacturing process that allows industries to produce highly detailed and complex components with exceptional accuracy. Few techniques in modern casting manufacturing rival the versatility and precision of Investment (Lost Wax) Casting. Investment casting is widely used across multiple industries and offers the advantage of medium to lower-cost tooling, making it ideal for low-volume production and prototype runs. The investment process will provide the most detail oriented, tightest tolerance as cast geometry, but is among the most expensive casting processes. Its ability to deliver high-quality parts with minimal material waste makes it invaluable for industries requiring precision and efficiency. From intricate robotic parts to life-saving medical devices and the complicated mechanisms powering our electronics, investment casting finds itself at the heart of a myriad of industries.
The top industries that rely on investment casting include:
- The aerospace industry is the largest consumer of investment castings due to weight constraints. The investment casting process provides advantages that other processes do not, which make it essential in the aerospace world: such as thin walls, smooth surfaces and little to no draft or tapper on geometries.
- Investment casting finds widespread application in medical and surgical equipment production due to its ability to create intricate, high-precision, biocompatible components, including implants and prosthetic components, clips, clamps, and handles.
- The investment casting process is essential for creating components such as lab equipment, analytical instruments, biotech and life science research devices, diagnostics, and treatment tools, including microfluidic components, tool handles, sample holders, and more.
- Investment casting is an excellent manufacturing method in the robotics and electromechanical systems engineering industries, where components need to fit together seamlessly to ensure optimal performance and functionality, including arms, actuator housings, transmission components, and more.
- Semiconductor equipment manufacturing demands components with precise geometries, tight tolerances, and superior surface finishes to ensure optimal performance and reliability. Investment casting is an excellent choice for these complex components, including chamber parts, vacuum seals, nozzles, brackets, and other precision mechanisms.
- Investment casting enables the creation of such intricate components with exceptional accuracy and consistency, meeting the stringent requirements of high-tech telecom, networking, communication, and GPS navigation systems such as antenna housings, connectors, splitters, couplers, and more.
Investment Casting is a highly valuable manufacturing process, offering medium to lower-cost tooling, exceptional precision, and the ability to produce complex geometries. Its versatility makes it ideal for low-volume production runs and prototype manufacturing, as it eliminates the need for expensive molds and allows for rapid design iteration when printing patterns. This makes it particularly suitable for critical industries such as the ones listed above, where high-quality, intricate parts are required without the high upfront costs of traditional casting methods. Its ability to create parts with tight tolerances and superior surface finishes ensures that prototypes and small production batches meet the rigorous standards of these industries.
How can General Foundry Service help you?
We are the only company that truly offers five metal casting disciplines under one roof – including Investment Casting. When it comes to custom aluminum and zinc-aluminum cast parts, no one provides smoother surface finishes, tighter and repeatable tolerances, or more dependable customer service than General Foundry. Our full-scale turnkey operations include our in-house pattern shop and machine shop, providing a best-in-class, one-stop-shopping customer experience. Our full-service machine shop specializes in producing castings with high-quality cosmetic finishes. In addition, we also provide finished castings that are ready to assemble. Contact us today for more information about our economical, clean metal casting solutions or to get started on your next project.