A complete guide to the rubber insert molding process
A complete guide to the rubber insert molding…
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Create high quality cast urethane parts on demand with precision and speed.
We offer a complete turnkey solution for creating master patterns and cast copies based on your CAD designs. We not only make high-quality molds but we also offer a full line of finishing services including painting, sanding, pad printing and more. We’ll help you create parts for showroom quality display models, engineering test samples, crowdfunding campaigns and more.
Do you need production quality plastic prototypes fast? Polyurethane vacuum casting may be the ideal solution for you. XTmade’s vacuum casting service is renowned for producing showroom quality display models, engineering samples, crowdfunding prototypes and more. And of course all of your parts are expertly finished with professional painting, printing and machining.
Our urethane casting service gives you access to high quality, low volume “production-like parts” in a variety of rigid, and soft urethane materials. Castings can even be colored to a wide range of colors and textures and XTmade will match pigments for Pantone, RAL, or samples provided. Our cast urethane parts resemble your final product not only in shape but also in appearance and finish. Urethane castings provide a visual, practical, and functional evaluation plus can prove extremely valuable for early market testing.
Urethane casting is a traditional manufacturing technology that is most commonly used during the prototyping process. Urethane casting produced by XTmade can generally be expected to hold +/- .010″ tolerances with +/-0.003 in/in (whichever is greater). For urethane casting equipment and parts with tight tolerance requirements, XTmade generally recommends CNC machining or injection molding services. Regarding soft parts, there is a Shore A tolerance of +/-10. Please note, these tolerances are not guaranteed, because geometries vary and every application is different, so please speak directly with one of our XTmade experts.
Urethane is one of the most versatile materials available, and can be manipulated to provide a wide range of properties, textures, hardnesses and so on. At XTmade, we take pride in our versatility, and are ready to work with you to overcome any challenges in creating the parts you need.
Color:
We can produce exactly the shade that is needed through our wide variety of paints.
Finishes:
The urethane casting process is ideal for custom finishes and textures — due to the nature of the 3D printed original pattern and the qualities of the silicone rubber mold. We can texture the mold and part according to any SPI finish or MT finish, as well as any custom design you may require.
Resins:
Urethane is versatile and able to nearly reproduce the qualities of a number of materials, including ABS, PP and PE. When ABS-like, PP-like and PE-like prototypes are needed, you save on the cost of low-volume quantities of those materials by making use of the versatility of urethane.
Value-added options:
When additional requirements beyond urethane casting are needed to create your part, we can provide them, including spray painting, pad printing, screen printing and more.
Cast urethane parts are often compared to injection molding materials. For example, a stiff urethane cast part may be described as "polycarbonate-like," and a more flexible plastic may be "polypropylene-like." We group our urethane materials into general categories to help you make quicker decisions and get the best performance on your project. The list below describes the categories of materials and technical examples when selecting polyurethanes.
| Description | Tolerance Notes |
|---|---|
|
Distance Dimensions |
+/- 0.010” or +/- 0.003” per inch, whichever is larger, is typical. Irregular or overly-thick geometries may cause deviances or deflection due to shrinkage. |
|
Shrink Mitigation |
A shrinkage rate of +0.15% can be expected due to thermal expansion of the liquid, and the response of the flexible mold. |
|
Surface Quality |
Surface finish is externally smoothed to a satin or matte surface. Grow lines may be present on internal or difficult-to-access features. Polishing or custom finishes must be clearly defined and agreed upon at the point of order. |
|
Feature Definition |
Sharp corners and text may appear slightly rounded. |
|
Size Recommendation |
We can offer urethane cast parts as large as 30” (0.762 m) long. |
This table is based on the assumption that designs have an adequate draft, radii, and coring for manufacturability. Please see XTmade's Manufacturing Standards for more information on tolerances per process.
Tooling Cost & Overturns
Small cost compared to injection machine
Manufacturing Any Parts
Any parts can be done with Vacuum Casting
High-Quality
Result with vacuum casting is similar as injection molding
Urethane Casting (or polyurethane casting, or urethane moldings) is ideal for additive manufacturing short-run production of pieces made from a plastic injection-molded resin. Often performed after an RTV mold (also called a room temperature vulcanization mold) is made from a Stereolithography (SLA) prototype, urethane castings are a cost-effective way to reproduce production-ready parts in small quantities.
After a mold is created, Urethane Casting material – synonymous with polyurethane casting material – is injected into the mold’s “void.” This allows for near-perfect copies of the original prototype to be created. We have low durometer urethanes that can be very soft, but we can also make stereolithography molds and inject silicone rubber into it.
Steps For Creating a Urethane Casting include the following.
Due to its fast production, low costs, and durable parts, our vacuum casting service is the favored option for making custom parts used in the automotive, medical, consumer goods, and other industries.
If you’re ready to start a cast urethane or silicone project, get a free quote in 24 hours or less by filling out our quick quote form.
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