Urethane and Silicone Casting Services

The Basics Of Urethane Casting

Urethane casting provides end-use, rigid, flexible, and rubber parts with production-level quality. The urethane casting process uses a 3D-printed master pattern to create a silicone mold that delivers high-quality, short-run parts as an economical alternative to low-volume injection molding.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit our website.

How Urethane Casting Works

Urethane casting is similar to injection molding in that it requires a tool with a cavity in the shape of the final part. The major difference is that urethane casting uses a "soft" mold made of silicone whereas injection molding using a "hard" metal mold that has been CNC machined. The drawback to urethane casting, then, is that the mold wears out more quickly. However, it is vastly more cost-efficient for low-volume and prototype plastic parts that require production-level quality and surface finishes.

The urethane casting process has 3 major steps:

1. The Master Pattern: In step one, a master pattern of the final part is made using an additive manufacturing process. Polyjet 3D or stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing processes are most often used due to their ability to produce high-resolution and naturally smooth finish parts. The master pattern is typically hand-finished to achieve optimal surface detail before the creation of the mold tool.
2. Molding: In step two, the 3D printed master pattern is encased in liquid silicone that cures around the pattern, with the silicone encapsulating all the features of the printed parts. When the mold cures, it is cut into distinct halves and the master pattern or 3D printed part, is removed. This leaves an internal cavity perfectly shaped like the part.
3. Pouring: In the final step of the urethane casting process, liquid urethane or silicone is poured into the silicone mold, and the mold is then placed in a chamber to help remove air bubbles in the liquid material. For opaque parts, the chamber is typically pressurized. For clear parts, the chamber typically pulls a vacuum to mitigate any bubbles and increase clarity. Once cured, the silicone halves are separated and the newly formed part is removed. This process is repeated until the desired quantity is achieved.

Benefits Of Urethane Casting

Urethane casting has a low-cost and quick turnaround for high-quality plastic parts compared to injection molding or 3D printing. Where injection molding requires an expensive upfront investment for the machining of the mold, the silicone mold required for urethane casting is inexpensive and easy to produce. Additionally, while most 3D printing processes require extensive post-processing to get to a near-finished state, urethane cast parts come out of the mold ready to go. Urethane casting is an excellent choice for creating high-quality prototypes or low-volume production of rigid, flexible, clear, colored, or rubber-like plastic parts.

Urethane Casting Parts In As Soon As 7 Days // Get A Quote 

The Urethane casting process relies on the use of silicone rubber to make the tools that are then injected with thermoset urethanes to create end-use parts. Urethane casting materials options are wide-ranging in mechanical properties, colors and transparencies and can be suitable replacements for many common production engineering plastics.

thingyfy supply professional and honest service.

In an industry like automotive where there are layers of testing requiring builds and subsequent changes, the flexibility afforded from urethane casting can mean saving hundreds of thousands of dollars by avoiding expensive tool changes or even tool scrapping. With millions of dollars of tooling on the line, urethane casting is used in nearly every beta build in automotive.

• Larger plastic parts such as interior paneling or ducting are ideal because of the very large and expensive production tools needed.

• Fathom&#;s urethane casting capabilities are some of the best in the industry, using a wide range of proven resins with the ability to create some of the largest parts needed.

• With equipment able to handle parts in excess of 1,000 mm, Fathom can support any beta build requirements for urethane cast parts.

Color matching, material certification, and finishing techniques like texturing, polishing, plating are all options that can be used to make anything from basic functional parts to fully cosmetic production-ready parts.

Urethane casting is an essential tool for creating production ready parts at lower volumes while minimizing large tooling investments. Whether it is a low volume manufacturing run for a beta build, initial samples for a marketing activity or even a bridge to production while steel tools are being cut, urethane casting is an extremely valuable manufacturing process for quantities typically anywhere from 10 to 1,000 parts.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Urethane Casting Services.