Investment Casting Tools & Molds

At FHND Casting Company, we have many years of experience in the investment casting industry. We produce investment castings from both ferrous and non-ferrous metals in the required specifications for medical, aerospace, and other critical industry applications at our foundry.

What is In-house Tools of Investment Casting

Investment casting tooling, also called wax pattern tooling, is necessary for all investment castings. The tool is made from high grade aluminum alloys, and designed to allow the flow of molten wax under extreme pressure, in order to allow it to solidify into the wax pattern which is used to form the ceramic mold during the investing process. Unlike sand casting, investment casting tooling replicates the final casting in reverse, due to the fact that we cut “cavities” in which the wax flows to form our patterns. This tooling is often designed to be “collapsible”, in other words, it must be able to be taken apart to remove the solid wax patterns when they have cooled. Another critical element of the tooling design is that the tooling must be constructed so that the wax patterns produced are larger than the final casting dimensions. This is due to the fact that metal shrinks during its solidification, so our engineers must calculate an expected shrinkage rate for every dimension in the tool, and apply those expected shrinkage rates when cutting the tooling. In the pattern tooling, any internal features can be produced, however if the various metal components of the tooling cannot be removed from the wax after solidification has taken place, a suitable method of coring will need to be utilized to form internal features.

Finally, the tooling can consist of simple single cavity varieties, or complex multi-cavity tools with automatic ejectors for higher volume jobs. FHND Investment Casting Foundry has a wide range of wax presses to accommodate most every tool design and size, as well as for all ranges of jobs from small volumes to large.

Investment Casting Tooling Cost is Charged

Due to the required tooling for developing a new investment cast part, at the time of the initial quotation, you will be quoted a piece price cost and a cooling cost. Most foundries will quote tooling as a separate item. This is usually a one time cost. It is wise to request that the investment caster describe the type of tooling they are quoting, whether manual, automatic, single or multi-cavity. Tooling is usually considered to be the property of the customer after all outstanding invoices are paid. Tooling is normally stored and maintained in an operational condition by the investment casting foundry. It is critical that the issues of ownership and maintenance be clearly established at the beginning. Normally, the tooling cost for investment castings ranges from 800USD – 2000USD. The dimensions and structure will determine the tooling cost.

In most cases, tooling could be fixed if the original casting design is not ideal, but this will produce extra processing cost. And buyers will need to pay for this job.

How Investment Casting Molds Are Made

Investment casting is a process by which metal components can be produced with great accuracy, repeatability, and integrity, allowing for the creation of valuable parts across a variety of industries in the business world. A great investment casting company works partners with its customers to create investment casting molds and finished products that help add efficiency and effectiveness to any business.

The steel casting process all stems from the creation of the casting mold, which is used to create the finishing cast, including repeating it as many times as is necessary. The first step is generally to produce a master pattern, which is often made from wax, clay, wood, or plastic. This pattern is created based on a design created through the creative process between the investment casting company and its partner, made to fit the exact specifications of what is needed.

Next, the mold, or master die, is created to fit the master pattern that was created in the first step. In cases where the mold is created from steel, the master die is cast directly from the pattern, with metal that has a relatively lower melting point. While this molding can be created without a master pattern, the pattern helps to ensure both precision and repeatability, if multiple molds are needed.

Investment Casting In-house Tooling & Mold Capabilities

To supply investment castings in a more efficient way, we also have in-house tooling capabilities. We have a tool shop with our quality die maker using vertical machining centers and other equipments to create the tooling necessary for your investment casting project. Our in-house tool shop allows us to control the cost as well as our delivery. So we are not only investment casting manufacturer, but also the tooling manufacturer. Besides, it is available to supply our overseas customers with tooling only in a low cost if they would like to make castings themselves. Together with other value added services ( machining, heat treatment, surface finish, etc.), our in-house tooling capabilities enable us more competitive than other investment casting suppliers.

All the investment casting toolings in our company can be designed from blue prints and also an existing sample. Our tooling engineers can work from CAD files in many formats including STEP – Solid, IGES, DFX. Usually, our tooling engineer creates tool paths from a 3 dimensional file and vertical machining centers to make the tooling for your casting. When designing, we should take the proper shrink factor into consideration into the tooling for the alloy that your casting will be poured from. The smoother the finish on the tooling, the better the surface finish on your casting.

If FHND designed, engineered, and manufactured the tooling for your project, we will maintain that tooling at no additional charge for the life of the part. If the tooling wears out, breaks, or is otherwise damaged, we will repair and maintain it in ideal working condition for as long as you continue to contract with us for part casting.