How the sand casting process can help with rapid prototyping

Sand casting is a tried and tested method for making prototype parts for a wide range of applications.  Grainger and Worrall have produced a free ebook to help give you a better understanding into the various stages of the sand casting process and key insights to consider for your project.

Prototyping is often used to help engineers gain a better understanding of their parts, whether it’s for optimising material or mechanical properties, or for testing production methods for Make Like Production (MLP). Sand casting offers some unique benefits when prototyping due to its geometric flexibility and its suitability for a range of alloys. In addition to this, sand enables rapid prototyping at a relatively low cost compared to other casting methods.

Technological advances of sand casting

Over the last 20 years there have been significant developments in sand casting technology. Once viewed as a ‘foundry man’s art’, sand casting is now a data-driven process involving multiple technologies.

These technological advances enable innovative castings that contribute towards lightweighting and part count reduction in response to the challenges of the 21^st century.

How can sand casting influence part characteristics?

Given the flexibility of the sand casting, there’s multiple opportunities throughout the process to influence part characteristics. We’re often asked how the sand casting process can achieve this. To help, we’ve written a brief eBook on The Basics of the Sand Casting Process. Full of GW insights, it’s a quick primer on how to design, make and test complex metal shapes.

We’ve also included some useful questions you can ask your casting supplier, ensuring you’ll achieve the best quality casting for your next project. These include:

• How do you design, make and test a quality casting?
• What are the benefits of sand casting in prototyping?
• What are the applications sand casting is (and isn’t) suitable for?

To get your free copy of The Basics of the Sand Casting Process, click on the button below.

And once you’ve downloaded and read the guide, why not test your knowledge by competing in our GW Casting Cup Challenge? It’s just a bit of fun (but we know you all love a bit of competition!).

If you think you have what it takes, feel free to do so without reading the guide, but we do recommend reading it first!