Vacuum Casting Prototypes

Vacuum Casting prototypes

Vacuum casting prototype is a very effective method, it can complete various materials and complex parts with high quality.

Cast Urethanes, RTV Molding, or Polyurethanes (Polys) all refer to a low volume production method that produces parts from a Polyurethane plastic material for prototyping purposes.

These parts have material properties similar to production-like plastic. It is possible to make these parts appear just like hard tooled plastic parts with selection of particular surface finishes, color, accuracy, and unique material properties.

Cast Urethanes are ideal for marking samples and test prototypes, or situations where 1 to 100 pieces are required but time and budgetary constraints do not allow for a prototype injection-molding tool to be produced.

Materials Available:

ABS-like, PP-like, PC-like, PMMA-like, Rubber-like, PA-like, POM-like, High heat resistance ABS-like (120℃, 150℃, 237℃).

Surface Finishes:

High glossy, glossy, matt, VDI30, plating or customized.

Tolerance / Accuracy is according to the size of the part.

Standard tolerance / accuracy: +/-0.3%×dimensions.

Advantages of vacuum casting prototype

1. The cost is cheap, the product production cycle is relatively short, the waste is less, and the production cost is much lower than CNC processing and 3D printing.

2. It is suitable for the production, processing and manufacturing of small batch production goods. After making a genuine copy, it can be copied according to the genuine copy.

3. Good mold making operability. The soft molds after dry solidification are all transparent or transparent, with good tensile strength, which is conducive to laser cutting analysis.

4. The probability of unsuccessful production and processing is small. As long as there is no problem with the genuine, imitations will not be wrong.

5. Good repeatability. The silicone rubber used for mold making has good fluidity before drying, and cooperates with vacuum defoaming, which can maintain the delicate structure and decoration of the solid model.

Production Notes of vacuum casting

1. What should I do if there are air bubbles in the silicone mold during the mold opening process? If there is a vacuum machine, it is necessary to mix the silicone and curing agent evenly before vacuuming. If there is no vacuum machine, the amount of curing agent added can be appropriately reduced for processing. For example, the ratio of original silica gel to curing agent is 4%, and now it is changed to 1%-2%. In this way, the glue connection time of the silicone mold in the early stage will be slower, and the air in the mold will gradually be discharged to reduce air bubbles.

2. The uneven curing of the silicone mold after curing is mainly due to the inaccurate ratio of the silicone to the curing agent, not being weighed as required, or the silicone and the curing agent were not mixed carefully and evenly.

3. It should be separated and processed according to the size of the product. In principle, the size of the product is proportional to the hardness of the silica gel used. For small products or very precise products, very soft silica gel can be used to open the mold, and the hardness is generally 10-20 degrees, so that the mold can be easily demolded and the product texture will not be damaged. For large products, such as products larger than 50 cm, you must use silica gel with a hardness of 40-50 to open the mold, so as not to deform