Vacuum casting has revolutionized the way industrial parts and prototypes are created; the casting process provides producers with a fast and effective way of producing high-quality parts/products and samples in small quantities.
The vacuum casting process utilizes re-used silicone molds and casting resins to provide identical copies of the master. The copies produced have a wide range of uses such as crowdfunding campaigns, marketing, product development, and testing.
In this, we are going to briefly what the process entails and why you should seriously consider using in product development.
Vacuum casting process
The first process always begins with the preparation of the master; typically, a master is a prototype made from robust and durable materials. During the preparation of the master, at Nice Rapid, we mainly use two machining services: 3D printing and CNC machining services as they are quite flexible in accommodating changes, and they are swift.
During the preparation of the master, you must be extremely careful when sanding, polishing, or even polishing the surface. Once the patterns are ready, they are inserted inside a casting box, which is, in turn, filled with liquid silicone.
The next phase is the curing process, which takes place in an oven until it solidifies, and it’s taken out. The mold is then cut open following the seam line, and the pattern is then removed, which leaves behind an empty cavity that mirrors the original image.
Production commences with the sealing of the mold; a feed tube is inserted, which leads to the cavity. The cavity is then filled with liquid urethane resin and is placed inside the vacuum chamber, the vacuum created with eliminating all the air bubbles inside the chamber, which allows the liquid resin to fill the chamber wholly.
Vacuum casting process
Benefits of vacuum casting
Quality
The final casted products have high quality; the reproduced parts will have fine and natural surface finishing that’s even superior to the original. It’s vital to prepare the master model with extreme care for enhanced fidelity with the original.
Speed
When it comes to the preparation of silicone molds, it just takes a few days. This is in contrast to other tooling methods, which takes a while; this will reduce your production lead-time and ensure your products gets to market, giving you an edge over your competitors.
When you are working with a set time-limit, vacuum casting will provide you with quick and effective solutions to beat the deadline.
Versatile
Vacuum casting provides greater versatility providing you with plenty of ways to build your prototype. Vacuum casting is one of the few tooling techniques that will create the look, performance, and feel of a product using a wide range of materials such as polyethylene, ABS, and nylon.
For designers and engineers, this will mean not sacrificing your functionality for either convenience or speed.
Economical
After the creation of the master patter, when it comes to making a replica, vacuum casting is very cost-effective and economical as a result of no need to investing in hard tools.
For those who want a deep dive into vacuum casting to get a thorough understanding of what the process entails, please head to nicerapid.com.