For investment casting manufacturers, to promote better development, besides adding more investment, we should also reduce production cost. Before learning how to control mininum manufacturing cost, we need to know the main factors that may affect the cost of investment casting.
1. Type of metal
Due to different metal alloys, the cost will also be different. In steel castings, stainless steel casting is the most expensive for the high stainless steel cost. Compared with steel castings, as cost of iron alloy is lower, so iron castings are much cheaper. Of course, for the same material, the cost may vary in different periods. So purchasers will get cheaper castings when the material cost is in a low status.
2. Yield of casting
Yield of casting is the percentage of actual casting weights & pouring metal weight. For a special investment casting part, the yield is like percentage of the fruits and the tree. It is related to the structure of investment castings and tree assembly method, and may change between range of 30% to 60%, mostly in 40%-50%. The lower of casting yield, the higher the cost will be.
3. Quantity of shell building layers
As the shapes of investment castings are always different, there will exsit difference in shell building layers. For more complex structures, more shell building layers will be needed, which will cost more.
4. Production technique
Even if investment casting, a part could be made both in water glass investment casting and silical sol investment casting techniques. Silical sol casting will acheve investment castings with better dimension accuracy and surface finish, so the cost will be higher than water glass casting. Of course, water glass casting is more easily accepted by our customers due to its lower production cost. But if more precise tolerances and surface finish are required, silica sol casting is preferred.
5. Sourcing country
It has been popular that compaines turn to China to purchase investment castings for its low cost. In China, although the labour cost is keep rising, compared with developed countries, the larbour cost is much lower. It is quite expensive to make investment castings in European and American countries. Click benefits of making investment castings in China to learn more…