Polyurethane vacuum casting

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Vacuum casting is a technique for producing end-use, rigid, flexible, and rubber parts with production-level quality. This process uses a 3D printed master pattern and silicone moulds to produce high-quality, short-run parts up to 2300 mm long. The finished dimensions of vacuum cast parts depend on the accuracy of the master model, part geometry, and casting material. In general, you can expect a tolerance of 0.3% from your nominal size. For instance, on a dimension 100 mm, lower limit = 99.85 mm, upper limit = 100.15 mm. Vacuum cast parts are frequently used when colour, surface quality, and toughness are required. Vacuum casting is a perfect alternative for insert moulding in low volumes and is compatible with a wide range of materials. Polyurethane casting can also be used for bridge tooling between a 3D printed rapid prototype and injection moulding to effectively balance quality, cost, and time. Vacuum cast parts can also be clear, colour-matched, painted, have installed inserts, and even custom finished. Applications of Vacuum Casting Low-volume production Vacuum cast parts are perfect for low-quantity production—when volumes don’t justify investment in injection mould tooling—and for first-run production parts, which can be completed weeks before production tooling is ready. Market testing End-user functionality and high-quality finishes make vacuum cast parts ideal for consumer testing, user evaluation, and concept models. Using the cast urethane process means that changes can be incorporated quickly for either further testing or market launch.