Its common knowledge that most of the medical parts and equipment start as prototypes. Prototypes are important to every manufacturing process as they provide full-proof-of-concept, engineering testing, certifications, benchmarking as well as design model just to mention a few.
For this main reason, vacuum casting stands out from the rest, it’s the perfect prototyping service that’s used in high volume production. Injection molding requires solid metals making it not suitable for prototyping its important to use vacuum casting for the first few prototypes. This will allow engineers and designers to perfect the designs and specifications before finally designing an injection molding tool.
Prototypes created using the vacuum casting technique are usually of high quality and can be used in a wide variety of engineering applications. So, let’s look at the reasons why vacuum casting is widely used in making medical products and equipment.
Reliability and efficiency
It’s vital worth mentioning that vacuum casting begins with the creation of a master model the pattern is usually very similar to the final to the parts and products to be produced. This is usually made using 3D printing or CNC machining.
Once the master has been created, the mold can be created in less than 2-3 days. A single day is exclusively dedicated to the pouring of the silicone and the other is used for curing. This technique is faster when compared to creating plastic injection molds using either steel or aluminum.
When the mold is ready, the resin is poured onto the cavity which finally created the final part or products in one or two days. This takes into account the entire process from the concept phase to the final product plus the making of the master; this can be done in less than a week, in some cases, it’s less than that.
High-quality parts
All of the resin cast copies of the master have similar features and qualities when it’s compared to the master, this includes dimensions, tolerance, finer surface details, and texture just to name a few things.
What this essentially means is all of the casted parts look like and perform like the machined parts of injection molding but only better. Another important benefit of Vacuum casting products is that they can be post-machined just like other solid products and parts.
Its smooth surface finishing makes it extremely easy to apply all the finishing services without requiring extra sanding or polishing.
Affordability
When you are venturing into manufacturing, it’s always advisable to control and monitor every cost in the production process. All that vacuum casting requires is the creation of the master which allows for multiple productions of silicone molds as well as resins. Overall it requires very little investment.
You’ll find out that in most cases, Vacuum casting requires less investment compared to 3D printing and CNC machining.