Investment Casting
Your investment casting solution for cost reductions and enhanced part performance
Investment Castings reduce the High Cost of your machined parts, weldments, fabrications and assembled mechanical components by as much as 30 to 50%… From simple to complex shapes, Investment Castings provide you with the ideal solution to your low/medium quantity mechanical component requirements.
Investment Casting Benefits
The Advantages of Investment Casting
Precision investment casting allows us to choose the appropriate design and material based on product requirements instead of the limitations of a particular manufacturing process. Discover for yourself why this is an ideal casting method.
5 Reasons
INTRICATE PARTS MADE EASY
Manufacturers are constantly confronted with the need for intricate parts. Due to their unusual shapes and contours, finished internal surfaces, etc., these parts used to require expensive machining and many hours of labor to produce. By tailoring our castings to fit the exact specifications of a particular part, Rimer Enterprises can simplify this problem, thereby eliminating fabrication and greatly reducing costs.
ELIMINATION OF FINISH OPERATIONS
The smooth wax pattern and fine grained investment material used to produce investment castings ensures an even surface on every cast piece. Regardless of the alloy used, you can expect a micro-finish of 125. Most investment castings are used with “as cast” surfaces. When aesthetics or function requires a smooth surface, investment casting is unparalleled.
ELIMINATION OF MACHINING
In many specifications, the materials used are extremely hard and tough. To machine these parts requires expensive tools, hours of labor, and high costs. Investment casting eliminates the need for machining to size and therefore, the expensive material loss associated with it.
LOW COST TOOLING
Dies or molds employed during the investment casting process are much less expensive than those used in die casting, stamping, or forging. In investment casting, molds are used to produce wax patterns; therefore they will last forever. With other methods, dies are expendable and their frequent replacement proves to be very costly. Investment casting molds are not hardened so changes can be made quickly and inexpensively.
MULTIPLE PARTS ASSEMBLIES
While the assembly of a number of separate parts may seem to be the obvious method to perform a certain function, it is often the most expensive. To do the same job, a careful analysis of the blueprint may show that it is possible to combine different parts of the assembly into a single investment casting. This leads to great savings in machining and labor costs. Investment casting can produce what would be impossible by any other method.
Investment Casting ALLOYS
Castings for Industry produces quality investment castings in a variety of alloys.
We use only certified alloy.
A list of stock alloys – Call us for others
Low Carbon: 1018, 1020, 1025, 1035, 1040, 1045, 1050, etc.
Alloy Steels: 4130, 4140, 4150, 4340, 6150, 8620, 8630, etc.
300 Series: 302, 303, 304L, 310, 316L, 316 nonmag, 330, HT-30, 347, Duplex, etc.
400 Series: 410, 416, 420, 440C, etc.
PH Stainless: 17-4, 15-5, etc.
Nickel Based: Hastelloy B, Hastelloy C, Inconel 600, Monel, etc.
Cobalt Base: Cobalt 6, etc.
Tool Steels: A-2, A-8, D-2, H-13, L-6, O-1, S-2, S-7, etc.
Bronze: Bronzes with low lead levels
Aluminum: 535.2, 356, 357, 319
investment casting DESIGN
Best results are obtained in 6 inches or less in either ferrous or non-ferrous alloys. Casting lengths of up to 22 inches, as well as weights of 10 pounds in aluminum and 25 pounds of steel, are now available.
Certain design factors are essential for the production of successful investment castings.
1. Fillets
a. Fillets should be incorporated whenever possible, because the production of a sharp angle weakens the casting. A minimum radius of 1/32” should be employed, with an average radius of about 1/16”.
2. Holes
a. Blind holes can be cast if they are no greater in depth than they are in diameter. The minimum diameter is ¼” for blind holes.
b. Hole size – Holes as small as 1/16” diameter may be cast. The depth of the hole can be as much as four times the diameter. Ceramic cores allow for almost any hole dimension.
3. Threads
a. These are generally impractical
4. Wall Thickness
a. A minimum wall thickness that is practical for investment casting ranges from 0.060 to 0.090.
We’re a top-quality provider of metal pieces, ready and willing to provide solutions to any request. Weights ranging from less than an ounce to 30 pounds. Quantities of 1 to 1,000,000. Lead times from six to eight weeks. Nearly 60 years of experience, we will produce top-quality results with tight tolerances and quick turnarounds.
How Investment Casting Works
The contemporary engineer thinks in terms of investmentcasting.
First, we create a suitable mold for producing a waxpattern to close tolerances. Under pressure, we inject molten wax intothe mold cavity.
We then mount these wax patterns with appropriate gatesand runners and dip the wax pattern into slurry of investment ceramicinvestment material and allow it to harden. We repeat this until a toughshell is formed.
We then remove the wax form the pattern material byheating the ceramic mold in a high-temperature furnace. The material islost. Next pour molten metal into the ceramic mold.
After solidification, the metal parts are removed from theinvestment material. Each lot is inspected for quality to insure completesatisfaction. The final product is an intricate lost wax investmentcasting with close dimensional accuracy, sound structure, and finesurface finish.
Savings
When small parts cannot be easily machined – because of contours, surfaces, or specified materials – investment casting can bring about tremendous savings.
We can adapt investment castings to industry demands for either short or long runs. Even runs involving 50 pieces or less can be produced economically. Under suitable conditions, this is efficient for the production of millions.
Whatever your particular problems or needs, our experienced staff is qualified and eager to provide solutions. We can cast parts that you may never have thought possible.
Ready to serve any industry
Conveyor – Chemical – Food Processing – Electrical – Railroad – Mechanical – Marine – Electronic – Textiles – Pumps – Machine Tool – Mixing Equipment
TOLERANCES
Tolerances specified on blueprints prepared for ordinary machining methods should be reviewed for investment casting. Frequently, cooperation between the design engineer and the investment caster will result in the development of a scale of tolerances that will be more practical and advantageous.
The design and alloy involved affect the tolerance range and should be considered separately for each part.
For castings of 6 inches or less in the greatest dimension, the following table may be used as a guide:
DIMENSION (in inches) TOLERANCE (in inches)
0.000 to 0.500 +/- 0.005
0.500 to 1.500 +/- 0.010
1.500 to 2.000 +/- 0.015
Each additional in. +/- 0.003
We welcome the opportunity to consult with you regarding proposed designs and to submit more precise tolerance information for a specific casting.
Secondary Operations and Testing
We offer the following operations:
Machining: Milling, drilling, tapping, grinding
Heat Treating: Annealing, Normalizing, Hardening, Carbonizing
Surface Finishing: Vibratory Finishing, Plating, Passivating
We offer the following in Quality testing:
X-ray of castings to military specifications
Liquid penetrant testing
Mag particle testing
Tensile testing
Chemistry of the alloy
INVESTMENT CASTING TOOLING
Another advantage is our tool shop.
The tooling at is made in-house. We have a tool shop withtwo quality die makers using four precision CNC mills to create thetooling necessary for your project.
The tooling engineers work from CAD files in many formatsincluding STEP – Solid, IGES, DFX. We can work from blue prints and alsoan existing part in some cases.
The tooling engineer creates tool paths from a 3dimensional file and uses a CNC mill to make the tooling for yourcasting. Care is taken to make sure we incorporate the proper shrinkfactor into the tooling for the alloy that your casting will be pouredfrom.
The smoother the finish on the tooling the better the surface finish on your casting.
Our in-house tool shop allows us to control the cost as well as our delivery.
For a Video showing the Investment Process go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX8w-GUPz1w&feature=related
Castings for Industry offers Flexibility (Rapid Prototypes, Small Quantity Runs – 5 to 25 pieces at a time and High Volume), Service (Quick Responsive Lead times, On time Performance, and Superior Investment Casting Engineering Support), Quality (Mechanical component parts produced that meet if not exceed your requirements), Reduce Cost, and Single Source Responsibility (one source to provide your parts complete). CFI has the alloy that will best meet your needs.
Send us a print or of your machined part, weldment or fabrication and let us demonstrate to you how investment castings can save you money and improve the quality of your mechanical component parts.