details DESIGN
Consolidating Features in an Investment Cast Prototype
JITEN SHAH, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & ANALYSIS, NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS CASTING PROFILE
Cast Component: Electronic mount. Process: Investment casting.
Material: AZ91E T6 magnesium. Weight: 0.12 lb.
Dimensions: 3.681 x 4.488 x 2.953 in.
Application: Hand-held de- vice for aerospace application.
er. Investment casting provided the fl exibility to consolidate complex features, cast in near-net shape with high precision, eliminate secondary machining, and give better surface fi nish over conventional sand and permanent casting processes. T e wax patterns used in the process allow little or no draft on some of the features, thereby optimizing the unit weight. Aristo-Cast delivered a complete part within seven weeks, which was redesigned based on input received through testing. Rapid prototyped investment castings are an effi cient way to validate the design and the process before proceeding with expensive production tooling.
A Heat Sink Mounting Bracket
Feature locations are not con- strained by its orientation with respect to the parting plane.
• Investment casting off ers multiple random parting plane orientations allowing any complex features to be cast along with the main shape. T e complex shapes are broken down into individual wax shapes, which can be drawn from the wax dies and assembled together. T e fi nal as- sembly is an exact replica of the fi nished casting. T e process allows fl exibility of the placement of features, such as heat sink, mounting bracket and structural ribs and stiff eners, away from the parting plane in any random orientation.
customer approached investment casting fi rm Aristo-Cast Inc., Almont, Mich., to produce magnesium prototypes for a hand-held device used in an aerospace application. T e component acts as a bracket to mount some processing electro nics, acts as a heat sink and is a structural member tying two halves of the housing togeth-
Structural Ribs and Stiffeners
14 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | Sept/Oct 2014
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