Recently, we had done a succeed stainless steel casting project for a US company, it’s the part used for trailer. Through this project, we would like to introduce custom stainless steel casting service in China.
“We are the leading aluminum dump manufacturer in USA. We are looking to have stainless steel investment casting made for us. The drawings are attached above. We would need 2,000pcs of each, made from 316 Stainless Steel.” At beginning, the customer contacted us by email on the part he needed, and in the attachment, he sent us the CAD drawing and stp file.
Basic Part Information:
- Part Number: TR-TWD-P039
- Material: 316 stainless steel
- Finish: Mirror Polishing
- Post Machining: Yes
- Production volume: 2,000pcs
From the drawing information, our engineer calculated the tooling cost and unit price based on actual production cost shortly, and our customer placed the order to our company when we get agreement on the pricing.
Upon receiving the payment from the US company, our production department started the molding and sample process asap. The first step is to have the mold made, the mold manufacturing process is actually the high precision machining process. Mold material selected in CFS Foundry is superior aviation aluminum, while most stainless steel casting companies use normal aluminum alloy to save cost, that is why our mold cost seems higher than other suppliers. After the mold is prepared, the cavity of the mold has the same dimensions as the desired shape shown as below image.
Once the mold is ready, we started the investment casting process. The first step is make wax pattern, which is the same shape as the casting blank, just wax material. Different from any other stainless steel foundry in China, we use automatic wax pattern making machines, the advantages are as follows:
- Greatly improve the production efficiency, and shorten the lead time.
- By automatic wax pattern making process, it can advoid the damage of wax patterns caused by workers.
- More stable quality of wax patterns.
Next, the wax pattern is coated by dipping into the refractory material slurry. Once the refractory material coating is hardened then this dipping process is repeated several times to increase the coating thickness and its strength. After the final coating is hardened, the wax is melted out and molten metal is poured into the cavity created by the wax pattern. Once the metal solidifies within the mould, stainless steel casting is removed by breaking the refractory mould.
It is called “stainless steel investment casting” because the mold pattern used in this casting process becomes “invested” with the liquid refractory material. While other casting processes simply involve pouring liquid material into the mold’s cavity, investment casting goes one step further by surrounding the mold with the liquid material. During this initial step, the mold becomes “invested” with the liquid refractory material.
After casting, the stainless steel casting part will be proceed for machining and mirror polishing process. Below is the image of finished part.
When the finished stainless steel casting part is available, it is important to do a complete testing before delivery. The testing job mainly includes material inspection and sizes inspection.
Feedback From Our Customer:
“I am really impressed at the quality of the finished part, and so appreciate for the efforts of all your staff. We tested the part by assembling it and it does work well. In the near future, i believe we will order this part again, and will also cooperate with CFS company on more stainless steel casting projects. Anyway, i feel so lucky to have such a reliable supplier”
If you are looking for a full service stainless steel casting company in China, pls feel free to contact us for a free quote!