Time is always a factor in the production world, but even more so in prototype casting. Recently Alumacast quoted a prototype for a customer that had a compressed timeline. The part was quite complex and producing it quickly was going to be a challenge.
Does your prototype part call for secondary machining and maybe even powder coating? It can save you time and money if the prototyper can handle these secondary functions for you and deliver a finished product for review.
Although primarily a production process, die cast designs are occasionally prototyped through the investment casting process. An advantage can be cost effectiveness on longer runs of smaller parts such as hinges, valves and switch enclosures. One disadvantage could be longer lead times or the inability to produce large complex geometries.
In another tip, we cited the advantages and disadvantages of using the hog-out process for prototyping parts to be produced in the die cast process. As noted there are pros and cons to every process.
Knowing what you really want in your cast part is not just a matter of design, but revealing the reasons behind the design. Is there an outstanding feature in this part? If so, what is the purpose of this feature? What is the best way to cast this part to ensure cost-effective manufacturability.
As a designer you are aware that every prototype is a one-of-a-kind product, which means there is no standard pricing chart to follow.
There are many prototypers to choose from and a variety of prototyping processes. Selecting the right supplier and/or process can sometimes be a daunting exercise in frustration with questionable results.
Solid models play a useful role in the engineering design world. There are many benefits to using solid models in the design process, not the least of which is the three dimensional perspective of the design. But as good as solid models are, they have their limitations.
During the course of completing the design for a heat-sensitive, thin-wall casting the engineer was mistakenly advised to thicken the walls of the part design from 3mm to 5mm to accommodate prototyping process limitations.
Aluminum alloys exhibit different heat transfer characteristics when die cast versus gravity cast. To compensate for that difference Aluma Cast Foundry has developed a heat transfer chart to demonstrate the alloy options available in order to more accurately simulate the heat transfer characteristics the part will exhibit as a production cast part.