The Application of Investment casting and CNC machining in manufacturing.

Let’s first talk about the main difference between investment casting and CNC machining?  Investment casting is a mold forming process; first, the mold (sand mold) is made, and then the metal liquid is cooled under the action of its own gravity to obtain the product. Due to the fluidity of liquids, investment casting can form products with complex structures. The precision of investment casting parts is not as high as that of CNC machined parts, but the cost is much lower than that of CNC machined parts. CNC machining is a molded product obtained by CNC cutting of solid metal materials. The machining cost is relatively high, but it can also achieve higher precision.

What is the connection between investment casting and CNC machining? In fact, the two of them can be matched with each other in precision metal parts. In some metal parts with relatively complex structures, for example, if you directly use investment casting to produce parts, but the partially fails to meet accuracy requirements; or you directly CNC machine the entire part, the accuracy is achieved, but the machining cost is too high, then Is there any better way? The answer is yes. At this time, we can first cast the entire part with investment casting, leaving sufficient machining allowance for the parts that require high precision, and then perform local CNC machining on this part. This can not only meet the usage requirements, but also save costs, achieving the best of both worlds.

Is there an inevitable connection between investment casting and CNC machining? The answer is no. Sometimes they work together, but sometimes they work separately. For some products whose precision requirements are not particularly high, direct precision casting can meet the usage requirements, so we use precision casting directly. For some products with relatively simple structures or small quantities, we directly use CNC machining.
Therefore, whether metal parts should be processed by investment casting, CNC machining, or forging, etc., depends on the product structure, usage conditions, accuracy requirements, etc.