Need A Quote- Mold for investment casting - Need 3d drawing only

[JMFabrications]

Im in the planning process of having some of our parts investment casted, this is our first time using this process and unfortunately the upfront tooling costs are very high from the casting companies. I figured if I could machine my own mold it would save us a lot of money! We have a HAAS VF2 in house that we use for other items but I have no experience making a mold or designing one. I have a link to an IGS file and would like to get quotes on just the design. I will ultimately need to import this into Mastercam X so I can create the toopaths.

Any questions please contact me.

File

Thanks,
Jim

[HuFlungDung]

I see some conical surfaces, and some lines, but I'm not familiar with what I'm looking at, so it doesn't really make sense to me. Is this like a flat plate, with raised bosses and conical through holes?

[JMFabrications]

Its actually an exhaust manifold flange for a car, the port holes transition from round to an oval shape. It seems to come up fine as a solid model in Solidworks but im not sure what your using. The wireframe might be a little wacky, ill get you some actual pictures of the machined part shortly.

Jim

[advt001]

Is this a header flange?It should be a reasonable priced die if it is .

[JMFabrications]

The machined part right now is made from 3/4" thick 304 SS, as you can imagine this takes almost 2 hours per part and eats up the tooling. Ive got casting quotes for around $20 per part which is amazing, just need a mold

Attached are a few pics of the machined piece.

Thanks,
Jim

[JMFabrications]

Originally Posted by advt001 Is this a header flange?It should be a reasonable priced die if it is .

Yes...the tooling quotes I got were in the $3000 to $3500 range. It would take me a long time to make that back on this part.

[HuFlungDung]

Not that I know much about this, but is this the 'lost foam' or 'lost wax' process, which?

I'm just wondering how feasible it is to job something out when one doesn't know how the casting outfit wants to do the procedure? I suppose there are many ways to make and fill the mold, but still, I imagine preferences do exist.

[JMFabrications]

Originally Posted by HuFlungDung Not that I know much about this, but is this the 'lost foam' or 'lost wax' process, which? I'm just wondering how feasible it is to job something out when one doesn't know how the casting outfit wants to do the procedure? I suppose there are many ways to make and fill the mold, but still, I imagine preferences do exist.

Its going to be lost wax process. I still need to collect more info from the casting company about building the mold to suit their machines and figuring out the fill cavities etc. I was just trying to see if anyone had experience with this and roughly what kind of costs would be involved with just the 3D modeling. Ill get back with more info when I talk to them tommorow.

Jim

[JerryFlyGuy]

Looking at the Iges file I'm seeing the 'port volume' not anything like a manifold. Can you double check the file that you posted and see if we're missing something? Possibly post a Parasolid model vs the Iges?

Fwiw

J

[HuFlungDung]

It would be nice to know if a shrink allowance was required, too.

Do you expect these castings to be so good that they won't need touch up machining?

[rowbare]

If you are doing lost wax, then the purpose of the mold is to make wax reproductions for spruing. Your mold shouldn't have to be made of particularly exotic materials although the casting house probably wants something they can work with quickly.

Perhaps a silicone mold similar to what would be used for casting urethane would be adequate. Check out the videos at: http://www.freemansupply.com/video.htm and see if that might make sense.

[dpryor]

Jim,
Below is a pic of what I got out of the IGES file.
As I understand, do you just need a 3D CAD model of the part?