Reduce Machining Costs with Investment or Lost Wax Casting
Investment casting is a manufacturing process that utilizes wax patterns created from a die or 3d printed. Next a flask is placed around the wax tree and a dense plaster slurry is poured into the flask, creating a solid mold. Investment (lost wax) casting provide tight ‘as cast’ tolerances and is the best casting techniques for high detail ‘as cast’ applications. The tool used to create the wax pattern is reusable, but the solid mold is broken and discarded after each production run.
Investment casting is General Foundry’s newest process. The solid mold lost wax technique provides customers the most design freedom, thinnest walls, tightest ‘as cast’ tolerances and the highest ‘as cast’ details possible. This process tends to be more expensive, but the overall value provides benefits that cannot be matched by other processes. Lost wax castings reduce the machining portion of the total part cost, which can lead to less money spent on other aspects of part production.
Contact us for more information regarding our investment casting processes and quality metal casting solutions. You can also call us at 510-297-5040 and we will be happy to assist you with your questions.
"I really appreciate the great communication, collaboration & effort in transitioning these parts to General Foundry Service with changes and time constraints. Truly great work, thank you." supply chain leader (California)
The Lost Wax Castings Manufacturing Process
Currently, General Foundry’s investment casting size envelope is about 8” cubed, but we are actively looking for partners with which to grow. Parts can be fabricated for a wide range of uses, and the geometry will meet your product’s exact design specifications. The investment casting techniques for tighter ‘as cast’ tolerances include:
- Machine (negative) die tooling or 3d print wax patterns
- Inject wax into tool
- Tree wax patterns & invest
- Melt out wax
- Pour metal into investment (under vacuum)
- Shake out castings from solid mold
Additionally, as the size of your part grows, we offer more economical options with our multiple processes to create the geometry that’s right for your part. We can eliminate much of the machining costs due to the tighter as cast tolerance; so, a more expensive casting pays for itself.
Investment Casting Advantages
The investment casting manufacturing process provides significant advantages over other casting processes. Some of the main benefits of lost wax casting include:
- Increased design flexibility
- Greater product detail
- Holds tight tolerances
- Reduces machining costs
- Generates intricate designs
- Most design freedom
Lost Wax Casting Applications
Investment casting techniques for high detail components are used for industrial applications throughout the world. These industries require manufactured products that provide strength, reliability and precise tolerances. Some of the industries that commonly utilize solid mold lost wax techniques include:
- Medical equipment
- Bio-Tech/Life Science
- Aerospace (non-structural)
- Robotics
- Electronics
- Semi-Conductor
- Military
Contact General Foundry for Lost Wax Investment Castings Today
Contact us for more information regarding our investment casting options for your application needs. Or for a quicker and more accurate pricing request, send us your project specs, an image, or drawing of what you are looking to achieve, and we will get back to you with pricing details as quickly as possible.
