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<p>Signicast’s Hartford location is the most technologically advanced facility of its kind in the world. The 654,559-square foot location is divided into seven fully-automated modules generating faster lead times than any other investment casting company in the industry. The state-of-the-art manufacturing facility includes highly automated casting and secondary operation modules that utilize continuous flow manufacturing. The entire complex—from top to bottom, one end to the other—is designed to facilitate the efficient, unbroken flow of product. Virtually every inch of it is devoted to helping customers maximize their profitability. Below are additional details about Hartford:</p><ul><li>Modules 1- 4 and 7 produce investment castings</li><li>Modules 5 and 6 provide value-added operations such as machining, heat treating, final finishing, powder coating, and assembly<ul><li>Continuous Flow Manufacturing, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week</li><li>Production process time is 5 days or less</li><li>Medium-to high-volume parts run in small-release quantities on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis</li><li>World-class tooling operation for die and fixture building and repair</li></ul></li></ul>

Signicast Hartford, Wisconsin

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Hartford, WI

<p>The Milwaukee/Brown Deer facility specializes in aluminum and nickel-based alloys. The highly-skilled personnel at the Milwaukee location focus on creating complex cast components that other investment casting operations shy away from. The 98,500-square foot facility utilizes the same state-of-the-art technologies as our Hartford facility, but with the flexibility to produce a wider range of complex components—1oz to 200lbs.</p><ul><li>Offers the use of over 150 different alloys</li><li>Global leader for commercial air melt nickel-based materials such as CW2M, Inconel, and Monel</li><li>Delivers low, medium and high volumes according to your schedule</li><li>Utilizes Continuous Flow Manufacturing, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week</li></ul>

Signicast Brown Deer, Wisconsin

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Brown Deer, WI

<p>The Milwaukee Finishing Complex (MFC) is a 12,000-square-foot facility near downtown Milwaukee, specializing in secondary operations and finishing processes.&nbsp;MFC offers:</p><ul><li>Visual Inspection</li><li>Gate Grind</li><li>Alternative Secondary Operations</li><li>Dimensional Gauging</li><li>Straightening</li></ul>

Signicast Milwaukee Finishing Complex

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Milwaukee Finishing Complex, WI

<p>Signicast Hutchins&nbsp;is&nbsp;an ISO 9001:2015 certified custom manufacturer of precision investment castings from 1/4 ounce to 200 pounds per piece.&nbsp;Our products include:</p><ul><li>Carbon and low steel alloy castings</li><li>Austenitic stainless steel castings</li><li>Duplex and martensitic (hardenable) stainless steel castings</li><li>Tool steel castings</li><li>Nickel base alloy castings</li><li>Cobalt base alloy castings</li></ul><p>In addition, our in-house capabilities include:</p><ul><li>Pro-active design engineering support</li><li>Prototyping services</li><li>Tooling</li><li>Lab and testing facilities</li><li>CAD/CAM</li><li>CNC Machining</li><li>CNC Robotic Welding</li><li>Assembly of components</li></ul><p>Additional services such as painting, bar coding, VMI, EDI and commodity management programs are also available.</p>

Signicast Hutchins, Texas

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Hutchins, TX

8 Locations in the US & EU, 500 Customers, and 800 Employees.

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Explore our range of materials, including stainless steels (303, 304 & 316), tool steels (A2, S7 & D7), carbon steels (4140, 4340, 8620 & 9310), precipitation-hardened alloys (15-5PH & 17-4PH) & more.

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<h2>What makes your part a good fit for investment casting?</h2><p>When deciding on the best manufacturing process for a precision metal component, the design, cost, and timeframe allotted for production drive the conversation. If something isn't working as well as it should with your current process, you might start looking for alternatives.  </p><p>The manufacturing process chosen can significantly impact the final result. This is why many design engineers find the idea of converting to <a href="/investment-casting" target="_self">investment casting</a> compelling.</p><p>Investment casting lets you cast almost any shape, in any alloy, with sophisticated and complex design features—all to exacting tolerances at a lower overall cost. Whether inefficiencies, added costs, or part variance plague your current process, converting to investment casting can add value to your project.</p><p>This blog will outline the three F’s of form, fit, and function that make a part a viable candidate for the process.</p><h2>Fit, form, and function</h2><p>When evaluating the suitability of an existing part for investment casting, these three areas are key:  </p><ul><li>Where will the part fit?</li><li>What form will it take?</li><li>How does it need to function to deliver maximum value?</li></ul><p>The answers to these questions determine whether investment casting is a good alternative to your current process.</p><h3>Fit</h3><p>Understanding how the part fits within the final product is important. For instance, is it currently part of an additional assembly process? This helps identify areas where you may gain greater value by simply recreating an existing part using investment casting.</p><h3>Form</h3><p>Consider whether the part has a simple or complex geometry. While investment casting can produce almost any level of geometric complexity, it's with highly complex components that the process offers the most significant return on investment. More traditional shapes like wedges or cope-and-drag style boxes are possible with investment casting, but it may not be as cost-effective as a simpler process like sand casting.</p><h3>Function</h3><p>Focus on the part's function. Is the component static or moving? Does it need to withstand impact and constant wear? Must it sit flush against another part in a way that can be pressure sealed? This gives critical information about the best-suited alloy. Being open to adjusting the alloy formulation used with a different process might lead to improved part performance with investment casting.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Watch <strong>Signicast's webinar </strong><a href="/resources/webinar/converting-to-investment-casting" target="_self"><strong>Converting to Investment Casting</strong></a> to explore how others have successfully converted components to investment casting.</p>

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Evaluate whether your part is right for casting by reviewing key geometry, material, and cost factors in this engineering-focused article.

Is Your Part Right for Casting? | Signicast Article

See how a part's fit, form, and function can determine if it's a good candidate for investment casting, a process that offers superior design flexibility and cost savings compared to traditional methods.

Converting to Investment Casting: Is Your Part a Good Fit?

<h1>Signicast Design Guide</h1><p>Investment casting has become engineers’ go-to process for its ability to deliver superior functionality across a wide range of alloys. Do you know the key factors in <a href="/additional-capabilities/engineering" target="_self">investment casting design</a> that deliver the highest-performing precision components?</p><h2>Designing for Performance</h2><p>Success in investment casting means taking a more complete view of the entire design process from how the component fits into the overall product, the precise form it needs to take, and the functional efficiency it must deliver.</p><p> In this mini-guide, we’ll give you a core overview of the key elements to designing higher performing precision components with investment casting, including:</p><ul><li>Tightening tolerances</li><li>Ensuring repeatability</li><li>Tool re-design and orientation</li><li>Minimizing wall thickness, and more</li></ul><p><strong> Download this free whitepaper on “Designing for Performance” by filling out the form.</strong></p>

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Download this guide to learn how to design parts optimized for investment casting, including draft angles, radii, wall thickness, and tooling tips.

Signicast Design Guide | Investment Casting PDF

This whitepaper provides key design tips for investment casting to achieve high-performance precision components. 

Investment Casting Design Guide

<h1>Fit Form Function FAQs</h1><p>Part design is crucial to the success of any component. It's essential for the overall success of a project to remain on track in terms of timelines and deliverables. A supplier requesting a design for manufacturing review may seem like a potential hindrance, but an initial design review at the project's outset could save costs related to the fit, form, and function of the part, thanks to input from <a href="/additional-capabilities/engineering" target="_self">investment casting design experts</a>. Below are some frequently asked questions about the investment casting process and how our team of highly trained engineers can enhance the design of parts.</p><h2>Is my part too heavy for investment casting?</h2><p>Just like any other manufacturing process, there are limitations with investment casting. In multiple steps throughout the <a href="/investment-casting/process" target="_self">investment casting process</a>, the molds must meet certain weight requirements. Molds themselves have weight restrictions based on the type of alloy poured, maxing out at 100 to 120 pounds and meeting the industry weight standard. At other stages, molds are handled manually, or even automatically by Signicast’s state-of-the-art automation and robotics systems, requiring strict weight and safety restrictions.</p><h2>Does surface area cause limitations?</h2><p>There are three areas in which surface area has limitations—dip cells for the ceramic shell-building process, dewaxing where steam pressure is used to remove the wax from the shell, and then the burnout ovens.</p><h3>Dip</h3><p>The more surface area the part has, the more viscous slurry sticks, increasing the weight of the sprue and causing weight limitations for the robot.</p><h3>Dewax</h3><p>Now that there is a fully injected and dipped mold, there is the weight of the wax and the added weight of the ceramic shell. In this stage, there are personnel safety weight limitations to safely transport the molds in the plant.</p><h3>Burnout Oven</h3><p>The molds are fired to 1800℉, and once the temperature is reached, it's essential to ensure that the molds are still handled safely.&nbsp;</p><h2>How do I take full advantage of the investment casting process?</h2><p>As previously mentioned, almost every design will likely encounter a geometry, pour weight, or shell weight limitation during the initial mold design phase.</p><p>However, through a Design for Manufacturing (DFM) meeting, the&nbsp;Signicast engineering team collaborates to address potential limitations, <a href="/additional-capabilities/product-optimization-and-added-value" target="_self">increasing the value of the part</a> from the outset. The part effectively "rents" space on a mold, so any changes or features added to the design are essentially free, as long as the footprint of the mold remains unchanged.</p><p>For instance, holes or bosses can be added to the design without increasing the overall footprint of the part. The number of pieces on the mold, as well as the piece part price, will stay the same. Small price implications might be added to the tool cost.</p><p>In a recent project, the Signicast Engineering team reduced a customer's piece part price from $23 to $18—a cost reduction of almost 30%. This price reduction wasn't due to the alloy cost, but rather a design change that allowed for more pieces per mold. The initial customer DFM session also leveraged the full benefits of the investment casting process by adding lettering, lot codes, part numbers, and logos on the parts at no additional cost.</p><h2>When should I consider alloy and heat treatment selection?</h2><p><a href="/materials/metal-selector-tool" target="_self">Alloy selection</a> and heat treatment are often considered early in the design process and not revisited later.</p><p>Some customers utilize cutting and grinding tools. A knife blade design, initially machined from solid 420 steel, was brought in for review. After discussing the part's function and conducting a DFM call, the in-house metallurgist suggested D2 tool steel. The result was a sevenfold increase in wear resistance, significantly extending the part's service life.</p><p>Considering heat treatment is also crucial. For parts requiring heavy machining, heat treatment and homogenization of the material before machining are recommended to minimize hard spots and broken tools. However, if extensive machining isn't necessary, heat treatment might be eliminated entirely.</p><h2>How can I eliminate machining and ultimately cut costs?</h2><p>By simply designing an investment casting with certain features, machining can be avoided, eliminating a significant cost associated with the part.</p><p>The engineering team frequently encounters prints with surface finish callouts. This often adds unnecessary costs. Many features machined on the casting are for size, position, or flatness. A surface finish callout is only necessary if it's for a sealing surface, O-ring groove, or a press fit. The DFM process can often help eliminate one or two machine passes, or even reduce the overall machining cycle time.</p><h2>How long does a DFM meeting take?</h2><p>The meeting duration typically ranges from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the part's complexity and the potential areas for improvement identified by the engineering team. Within this timeframe, the team can conduct a comprehensive DFM call and conclude with actionable steps to enhance the quote or RFQ.</p>

Read answers to top engineering questions about investment casting tolerances, wall thickness, shrink factors, and dimensional control strategies.

Casting Fit, Form, Function | Signicast Article

See frequently asked questions about the investment casting process, including design limitations, optimizing part design, alloy selection, and how to reduce costs through design for manufacturing (DFM). 

Fit, Form, Function FAQs

<h1>Top 3 Design Tips for Investment Casting</h1><p>When designing for investment casting, all of our customers want the same thing, quality components that provide superior performance and durability. This requires sound mechanical design of the final component, reliable process controls, consideration of marketplace economic requirements, and clear communication among all parties. Most of our customers are not familiar with designing specifically for investment casting, so while the below tips are important to remember, we strongly urge you to involve our engineering team early during design to realize the benefits of our knowledge and design efficiencies.</p><p>Contact our team today to get the conversation started.</p><h3>1. Size &amp; Weight</h3><p>Part size and weight are the most critical factors in determining part cost because mold capacity is limited by both. The more pieces that can run on a mold, the lower the part cost. While almost any configuration can be investment cast, our team of engineers can help to optimize your part for the investment casting process by reducing part weight and optimizing design geometries. The key to the most cost-effective use of this process is to fully utilize its flexible capabilities and incorporate as many useful features into the cast piece as possible.</p><h3>2. Gating Design</h3><p>The number of gates you have has a direct influence on the cost of your project. The impact of the gate location on the component must be considered during the design phase, as it can be a careful balance between manufacturability, part function, dimensional control, and aesthetics.</p><p>When possible, a part should be designed so that a single gate can feed the part. This will generally yield more pieces per mold and reduce the pour weight per mold. Single gate feeding also enhances the dimensional stability of a given part by providing a directional solidification pattern.</p><h3>3. Component Castability</h3><p>Castability is very important to the investment casting process. Ideally, an investment cast component would be shaped like an icicle for directional solidification—you would pour from heavy to thin. If a design contains features that will raise scrap or rework rates (and piece price), a Signicast estimating engineer will recommend design modifications to help minimize costs.  </p><h3>Quality Investment Castings</h3><p>Early supplier involvement means Signicast’s in-house technical staff and CAD capabilities are available to help you to ensure that you receive the best quality component. The design tips above will only help to improve the way your component is investment cast, even if it was previously manufactured by another casting process. Unlike other casting processes, designing for investment casting has a unique set of efficiencies that can be utilized to create the best part for the best price possible<strong>.</strong></p>

Boost casting success with these design tips: simplify geometry, add fillets, and plan for shrink—straight from Signicast engineers.

Top Design Tips for Casting | Signicast Article

Key design tips for optimizing investment casting include focusing on size and weight, optimizing gating design, and ensuring component castability, all while highlighting the value of early collaboration with engineering experts. 

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