Main advantage of vacuum casting for prototyping

Vacuum casting or casting urethane is a low cost but reliable solution for making low volume high-quality prototypes based on a master model (usually one master is made by CNC machining or 3D printing) and is considerably faster than other manufacturing processes. This is ideal for rapid prototyping used in engineering testing, proof of concept, display demos, etc.

What are the main advantages of vacuum casting?

Let us have one quick review from the below aspects.

Quality

It does be one challenge for people who are new to the vacuum casting process to tell the parts are from vacuum casting or from injection molding. Why? The quality of the vacuum casting part is excellent, easily reproducing even very fine surface details from the original or in other words, the casting is having very high fidelity to the original. Copies can have various finishing such as painting, silk printing, or machining as necessary to improve appearance and functions. It is one ideal option for one complex part production, for example, if there is one undercut feature on parts, the feature can be easily processed by vacuum casting because the mold is soft and a little force applied during opening mold would not damage parts.

Delivery

Compared to one hard tool made out of steel (which could take a few weeks), casting parts can be prepared and delivered in a very short time (3 days).

Cost

Once the master patterns have been prepared, vacuum casting is the most economical way to make high-quality replicas because no money is invested in making hand tools. Further, the casting process uses much less electricity than injection molding, die casting, or CNC machining.

Versatility

There are many casting resins available at Accu that reproduce the look, feel, and mechanical performance of most standard thermoforming resins like nylon, ABS, or polyethylene. For more options, urethanes of different types can be over-molded to create various surface textures and hardnesses in one unit. Surely some colorant can be added into the material for different color parts without additional painting.

Some technical specifications

• Shortest lead time: 3 days
• Accuracy: ±0.1/100mm
• Minimum wall thickness: to ensure your mold is filled properly, a wall thickness of 0.75 mm is recommended. For best results, at least 1.5 mm wall thickness is recommended
• Maximum part dimensions: the size of your mold is limited by the dimensions of the vacuum chamber, as well as the volume of the product. In some cases, joining process can be in place for big parts manufacturing
• Typical quantities: between 15-25 parts per mold

At Accu Prototyping we have a dedicated team focusing on vacuum casting solutions and production. If you have any queries about technicals or product needs, you are welcomed to contact our Accu product manager Flemming at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Thank you!