AN OVERVIEW OF

THE INVESTMENT CASTING PROCESS

1. If this is the first time the item has been produced, we manufacture tooling directly from your blueprints and / or CAD files. If required, we also produce straightening or checking fixtures, or both.

2. Castings are fabricated. The first step is to produce a set of patterns of your part in wax. These patterns are replicas of your finished part in metal.

3. The patterns are "set-up" on an assembly called a tree, consisting of a trunk-like item called a sprue, and as many patterns (leaves) as can be fit on the tree and safely manufactured to your specifications.

4. The tree is coated with ceramic (referred to as shell) and allowed to dry.

5. The shell-coated tree is placed in an autoclave. The bulk of the wax is removed. This creates a hollow mold into which we will pour our metal.

6. The remainder of the wax is vaporized in a superheated furnace.

7. The tree is heated and metal poured in (cast).

8. What were once patterns, now true to life in metal, are cut-off from the supporting tree assembly.

9. The individual patterns are inspected for quality, after which final operations, possibly including heat-treatment, non-destructive testing, and final machining are performed.

10. Your castings are shipped!

Do you know what HICTOL is?

Do you know how to determine if a part is right for investment casting?

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