Bring Your Concepts to Life
Franklin’s in-house capabilities allow us to handle proof-of-concept parts and 3D drawings seamlessly, working closely with your team to optimize casting designs for ideal metallurgy and geometry.
From rapid prototyping to first-article approval, our process delivers swift turnaround times, precise results, and lasting confidence in your casting designs.
Many customers come to us with specific requirements that rapid prototype casting can address, such as:
- Requirement for a physical casting to test a prototype assembly.
- The volume demand for castings does not justify the cost to manufacture tooling.
- Limited time (wax patterns can be cast quickly) .
- Need to optimize part design in coordination with foundry friendly geometries to ensure lower manufacturing cost without sacrificing quality.
The Rapid Prototype Casting Process
Rapid prototype casting is a streamlined manufacturing process designed to quickly produce functional prototypes of metal components, allowing for rapid iteration and validation of designs before full-scale production.
Step 1: Design and Optimization
Franklin engineers collaborate with customer's engineers to optimize the casting design for manufacturability, leveraging CAD software to create 3D models.
Step 2: 3D Wax Printing
Utilizing 3D wax printing technology, prototype patterns are rapidly produced within two days directly from digital designs, reducing lead times significantly. Prototype patterns are visually and dimensionally inspected to customer's specifications.
Step 3: Investment Casting
A sample production order is created. The wax prototype patterns are then used to create ceramic molds through the investment casting process, allowing for the production of metal prototypes with intricate geometries.
Step 4: Metal Casting
Molten metal is then poured, creating a metal prototype casting. The metal casting is processed and delivered to Quality Control for inspection.
Step 5: Finishing and Evaluation
The cast prototypes then undergo finishing processes as needed, ensuring the highest-quality standards are met. They are then evaluated for functionality, fit, and performance. Castings are shipped within two to four weeks depending on non-destructive testing (NDT) requirements, machining, and quantities.
Step 1: Design and Optimization
Franklin engineers collaborate with customer's engineers to optimize the casting design for manufacturability, leveraging CAD software to create 3D models.
Step 2: 3D Wax Printing
Utilizing 3D wax printing technology, prototype patterns are rapidly produced within two days directly from digital designs, reducing lead times significantly. Prototype patterns are visually and dimensionally inspected to customer's specifications.
Step 3: Investment Casting
A sample production order is created. The wax prototype patterns are then used to create ceramic molds through the investment casting process, allowing for the production of metal prototypes with intricate geometries.
Step 4: Metal Casting
Molten metal is then poured, creating a metal prototype casting. The metal casting is processed and delivered to Quality Control for inspection.
Step 5: Finishing and Evaluation
The cast prototypes then undergo finishing processes as needed, ensuring the highest-quality standards are met. They are then evaluated for functionality, fit, and performance. Castings are shipped within two to four weeks depending on non-destructive testing (NDT) requirements, machining, and quantities.
Advantages of Rapid Prototype Casting
- Significant reduction in lead times
- Accelerated product development cycle
- Minimized costs associated with design changes later in the production process
- Creation of highly detailed and accurate prototypes that closely match the final parts
- Material flexibility that allows for testing of various alloys and properties
- Ability to quickly produce and test multiple iterations of prototypes
- Enables rapid design refinements that ultimately lead to superior final products
Why Franklin for Rapid Prototype Casting?
Franklin's rapid prototype casting process provides fast, cost-effective, and precise metal prototypes, empowering engineers to innovate with confidence and efficiency.
Alloys We Pour
We pour over 120 alloys in our U.S.-based facility, including standard and custom stainless steel, nickel, cobalt, brass, bronze, and Ni-Hard alloys to suit the requirements of complex cast subassemblies or assemblies.
Casting Specifications
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