Production Quality at Low Volumes
This process is a quick, cost-effective way to produce 10-200 units with production-level quality. Typically, each silicone mold will produce 20 castings.
Complex Elastomeric Parts
Vacuum casting is ideal for prototyping elastomeric parts such as complex gaskets and overmolds on rigid parts.
High Level of Detail
Vacuum casting allows for almost limitless complexity, including sharp internal corners unachievable with CNC machining, and designs without draft or uniform wall-thickness that can’t be injection molded.
| Hardness | Colors | Applications | ||
| ABS-Like | ABS-Like is a general purpose polyurethane plastic that simulates ABS thermoplastic. This material is a great choice for most product enclosures. | All colors; precise pantone color matching available | General purpose, product enclosures | |
| Acrylic-Like | Acrylic-Like is a stiff, transparent polyurethane plastic that simulates acrylic (PMMA). This material is great for see-through applications such as light pipes. | Shore D 87 | Clear | Light pipes, see-through applications |
| Opaque Elastomer | Opaque Elastomer is a polyurethane plastic that simulates all kinds of rubber-like materials such as TPE, TPU, and silicone rubber. This material is great for wearables, gaskets, and overmolds and is available from Shore 20A to Shore 90A in 10A increments. | Shore A 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 | All colors; precise pantone color matching available | Wearables, gaskets, overmolds |
| Waterclear Elastomer | Waterclear Elastomer is a Vacuum casting material that simulates all kinds of rubber-like materials such as TPE, TPU, and silicone rubber. | Shore A 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 | Clear | Wearables, gaskets, overmolds |
Custom CNC machining parts machining services for rapid prototyping, new product introduction and low-volume production.
- From Prototype to Production -
Concept stage
Looks-like models for marketing photography, investor pitches, and trade shows
Early prototyping stage
Prototype elastomeric parts such as complex gaskets
Late prototyping stage
Cost effective way to produce 100 EVT unitsbefore cutting injection molding tool
Late prototyping stage
Low-volume production orders for customized, small-batch products (20-200 units at a time)
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
About the Vacuum Casting Process
Vacuum casting (also known as RTV molding, cast Vacuum, and silicone molding) is a fabrication method that uses silicone molds to produce production-quality plastic parts.
Vacuum Casting production consists of three main steps:
1. Build a master pattern using 3D printing or CNC machining
2. Build the mold by pouring platinum silicone around master
3. Pour liquid polyurethane resin into mold, create polyurethane casting under vacuum
Advantages of Vacuum Casting
With Vacuum casting, you can get production quality parts at low volumes and without the high costs and lead times of steel or aluminum tooling. This is helpful for bringing new products to market where you may want production-grade products to test with new customers and markets and validate your design hypotheses before making a substantial investment to scale manufacturing.
Vacuum Casting Design Considerations
If you are familiar with designing parts for injection molding, you can apply the same best practices and rules of thumb to design parts for Vacuum casting.
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