Printed wax patterns, no die
Patterns are printed on our own SLS wax printers. With no injection die to cut, a single part is economic and a design revision costs a reprint rather than a die modification.
Precision casting service
Precision Investment Casting printed patterns instead of tooling
We print the pattern, build the ceramic shell, pour metal and finish the part. One part minimum, no die required.
Ra 3.2-6.3 μm Surface finish
1 part Minimum order quantity
8 Alloy families
30+ years Casting experience
ISO 9001 certified. Ten manufacturing centres, 45+ industrial 3D printers, nine in-house inspection methods, full material certificates with every shipment.
The whole casting chain, in-house
Precision casting covers the lost wax and investment casting family. A pattern is coated in ceramic, the pattern is melted or burned out, and molten metal fills the cavity it leaves. Because the pattern disappears instead of being withdrawn, the mould carries no draft angle and no parting line. That is why this route holds finer detail, thinner walls and tighter tolerances than any other common casting process.
One supplier, one quality system
Your file goes to an SLS wax printer, the pattern is assembled onto a tree, the shell is built and fired, the metal is poured, and the casting is cut off, finished, heat treated, machined and inspected before it ships. Nothing is subcontracted.
See how wax pattern printing worksMachined and inspected before shipping
CNC machining from 3-axis to 5-axis, heat treatment, surface treatment and nine inspection methods, all in-house. You receive finished parts, not raw castings.
Lost wax casting
Lost wax casting without the injection die
Conventional lost wax casting starts with a machined die. Wax is injected into it, and the die sets both the lead time and the minimum order quantity. The die is the bottleneck, not the casting. We remove it by printing the wax pattern directly.
Timing
The first pattern takes days instead of the weeks a machined die needs.
Quantity
One part becomes economic, so validation castings no longer need a tooling budget.
Revisions
Revise the CAD and reprint. A design change stops costing a die modification.
Geometry
Undercuts and internal features that a die cannot release become possible.
Consistency
No die wear means the thousandth pattern matches the first.
Printed wax pattern or wax injection?
Everything downstream is unchanged: the same ceramic shell, the same dewax and burn-out, the same melt and pour, the same finishing. Only the front end changes.
Both are routes we run, so the comparison below is not an argument for one side.
| Factor | Printed wax pattern | Wax injection |
|---|---|---|
| Die required | No | Yes |
| First pattern lead time | Days | Weeks, for die machining |
| Cost at 1-20 parts | Lower overall, no die | Die dominates the cost |
| Cost at high volume | Higher per pattern | Lower per pattern |
| Design change cost | Reprint only | Re-cut or modify the die |
| Geometric freedom | High, including undercuts | Limited by die release |
| Surface finish | Good, with layer texture to manage | Very good by default |
When wax injection is the better answer
When your quantity is high and the design is frozen. Once a die is amortised, injected wax is cheaper per pattern, and injection gives a smoother surface than a printed pattern that carries layer texture. The crossover is arithmetic rather than a fixed number: compare the die cost against the per-pattern saving multiplied by the number of patterns you actually expect to use. If that says cut a die, we will tell you.
Precision investment casting with printed patterns
Lead time in investment casting is dominated by tooling. Print the pattern instead and the same foundry process becomes available at quantities and schedules it never supported before. We run three pattern routes, and the right one depends on your quantity and how frozen your design is.
Direct printed wax
Wax printed on SLS machines and used as the pattern itself. Layer texture is managed by print orientation and pattern finishing, and ash content after burn-out is verified in the shell system rather than assumed from a datasheet.
Printed burnable resin
A resin pattern that burns out of the shell the way wax does. Useful where a part needs a stronger pattern than wax can give it for the dip-and-stucco cycle.
Printed masters for tooling
A durable printed master casts a silicone or low-melt alloy die, which then produces wax conventionally. The bridge between one-off printing and a full steel die.
One honest caveat about precision
What makes investment casting precise is the ceramic shell and the lost-pattern process, not the pattern route. A printed wax pattern does not make the shell more accurate or the alloy shrink less. If a part needs a tighter tolerance than the process can hold, the answer is machining, not printing. What printing removes is tooling-introduced error: die shrinkage, parting line flash, ejection marks and die wear. The first part and every part after it sit closer to the design file.
The printers behind every pattern
We do not buy these machines. 3DPTEK designs, builds and operates the 20+ SLS wax printers that make our patterns, and formulates the wax that goes into them. That is why pattern accuracy holds at ±0.1 mm and why we can quote a build envelope rather than a guess.
LaserCore-6000
Build 1,050 × 1,050 × 650 mm CO2 120 W Largest SLS build for wax patterns
LaserCore-5300
Build 700 × 700 × 500 mm 55 W / 120 W 150-400 cm³/h Sand and wax dual use
AFS-500
Build 500 × 500 × 500 mm CO2 55 W / 120 W 80-200 cm³/h
Multi-part assembly
Patterns up to 1,400 mm in length Layer thickness 0.08-0.35 mm Ash content under 0.05%
20+SLS wax printers in production
320+Patents in 3D printing
30+In-house wax and binder formulations
±0.1 mmPrinted pattern accuracy
Alloys we cast
Eight alloy families and more than 30 in-house material process formulations. If your alloy is not listed, send the specification. The investment casting route accepts the full range, and we will confirm castability before quoting.
| Alloy family | Typical grades | Typical applications |
|---|---|---|
| Stainless steel | 304, 316, 17-4PH | Marine, chemical, food-grade, pump and valve bodies |
| Cast steel | ZG25, ZG35, ZG45 | Structural parts, heavy equipment, impellers |
| Cast iron | HT200, HT250, QT400-18 | Machinery and engine blocks |
| High-temperature alloys | Inconel 718, Hastelloy | Turbine components, aerospace, heat-exposed hardware |
| Aluminium | A356, A357, ZL101, ZL104 | Automotive, aerospace, marine housings |
| Titanium | Ti6Al4V | Aerospace, medical implants, high-performance parts |
| Copper alloys | Brass, bronze, Cu-Ni | Electrical, marine, architectural and art castings |
| Magnesium | AZ91D, AM60 | Lightweight automotive and electronics housings |
Which casting process fits your part
Precision casting is one of several processes we run across ten manufacturing centres. If it is not the right answer for your part, we will quote the one that is.
For the full trade-off between routes, see sand 3D printing vs investment casting, the investment casting and 3D printing guide, or the rapid casting service.
- Investment and lost wax casting
- Complex, thin-walled parts with fine surface detail, in stainless steel and superalloys. Gives the finest finish and the tightest tolerance of the casting routes.
- Sand casting with printed moulds
- Large and heavy parts at low to medium volume, plus tooling-free prototypes. Coarser finish and wider tolerance, at a lower cost per kilogram.
- Gravity and low-pressure casting
- Aluminium structural parts, cylinder heads and pressure-tight components, where density control matters more than surface detail.
Precision casting or another route?
- Sand casting
Cheaper for larger, thicker parts where fine detail is not the constraint.
- Gravity casting
Aluminium and copper poured into a printed sand mould, to a 5 m envelope.
- Low pressure casting
The route for gas-tight aluminium housings — filled from below, held under pressure.
- Ductile iron casting
Ferrous work when strength and cost matter more than corrosion resistance.
- Cast steel casting
Carbon, low-alloy and stainless steel by the sand or wax route.
- Bronze and brass casting
Copper alloys for bearing, marine and architectural duty.
Capability
Tolerances and surface finish
Tolerance in investment casting is set by the shell system, the alloy and the part geometry, not by how the pattern was produced. These are the values we work to. Confirm your critical dimensions in the RFQ and we will state what is achievable for your specific part.
Ra 3.2-6.3 μm Surface finish
±0.3 mm As-cast dimensional accuracy
1 part Minimum order quantity
3-7 days First article delivery, business days
Two accuracy figures, two different things
±0.1 mm is the accuracy of the printed wax pattern as it leaves the printer. ±0.3 mm is the as-cast tolerance of the finished part, measured after shell building, pouring and cooling. The casting step is what consumes the difference, so quoting the pattern figure as a part tolerance would be wrong. Where your drawing needs tighter than as-cast, we hold it by machining the critical features.
- Pattern production SLS printed, no die
- Tooling required None
- Machining 3-axis to 5-axis CNC
- Heat treatment In-house
- Part envelope Confirmed per drawing
- Minimum wall thickness Confirmed per drawing
Industries we cast for
From single prototypes to serial production, in alloys that sand casting cannot hold detail in and die casting cannot run at all.
Aerospace
Turbine housings, impellers and structural brackets in high-temperature alloys and titanium, with full traceability and non-destructive testing on every batch.
Marine, pumps and valves
Impellers, volutes and valve bodies in stainless steel, bronze and duplex alloys, with pressure-tight testing included.
Automotive and motorcycle
Cylinder heads, motor housings and turbocharger components in aluminium and cast iron, from validation parts to serial supply.
Nine inspection gates before shipping
Every casting passes multiple inspection gates before it ships. Nothing is subcontracted, and full material certificates and inspection reports travel with each shipment.
Inspection we run in-house
RT
X-Ray
Internal defect detection for safety-critical components.
CMM
Coordinate measurement
Dimensional verification against the CAD model.
OES
Spectrographic analysis
Alloy composition verified on every heat before pouring.
UT
Ultrasonic testing
Sub-surface flaw detection on heavy sections.
PT
Dye penetrant
Surface crack detection with fluorescent penetrant.
MT
Magnetic particle
Surface and near-surface flaws in ferromagnetic parts.
HB / HRC
Hardness testing
Brinell, Rockwell and Vickers across production batches.
3D
Scan-to-CAD comparison
Full scan comparison for complex free-form geometry.
Recent precision casting work
Three recent jobs, all delivered with printed tooling rather than a machined die.
Large thin-walled impeller in cast steel
A thin-walled blade structure formed in one piece, holding consistent forming and surface quality better than the traditional route on a compressed schedule.
Large thin-walled volute, GLH-5
A large volute casing formed in a single piece, holding dimensional accuracy and surface quality above the traditional route.
Motor housing in ZL101A
40 sets of finished aluminium motor housings delivered in 40 days, ready for vehicle installation and road testing.
Precision casting questions
What is the difference between precision casting, lost wax casting and investment casting?
They describe the same family of processes. Investment casting and lost wax casting are the established names for the process itself: a pattern is coated in ceramic, the pattern is melted or burned out, and metal fills the cavity. Precision casting is the commercial term for parts made this way, because the process is chosen when fine detail and tight tolerances matter. We use the three interchangeably, and we will tell you which pattern route we recommend for your part.
What is your minimum order quantity for precision casting?
One part. Because we print the wax pattern instead of cutting an injection die, there is no tooling to amortise and no minimum quantity. Single parts for validation, small batches for pilot runs and serial production all run on the same process.
Can you 3D print patterns for investment casting?
Yes. That is our standard route. We print wax patterns on our own SLS machines, build the ceramic shell around them, and cast conventionally. We also run printed burnable resin patterns and printed masters for rapid tooling when the quantity is too high for one-off printing but too low for a steel die.
Does 3D printing improve precision casting tolerance?
It improves the accuracy you achieve on a real part, because it removes tooling-introduced error: there is no die shrinkage to compensate for, no parting line flash and no die wear, so the thousandth pattern matches the first. It does not raise the process ceiling. Tolerance in investment casting is set by the ceramic shell and the alloy, not by the pattern route. If a feature needs to be tighter than the process can hold, the answer is machining.
What is the lead time for a precision casting?
First article delivery is typically 3-7 business days. The pattern route removes the die lead time entirely: the first pattern takes days rather than the weeks a machined die needs. Larger parts, extra machining or special alloys can extend it, and we confirm the schedule with the quote.
Which alloys can you investment cast?
Eight alloy families: stainless steel (304, 316, 17-4PH), cast steel (ZG25 to ZG45), cast iron (HT200, HT250, QT400-18), high-temperature alloys (Inconel 718, Hastelloy), aluminium (A356, A357, ZL101, ZL104), titanium (Ti6Al4V), copper alloys (brass, bronze, Cu-Ni) and magnesium (AZ91D, AM60). More than 30 material process formulations are developed in-house. Send your specification and we will confirm castability before quoting.
Do you handle machining, heat treatment and inspection?
Yes, all in-house: casting, CNC machining from 3-axis to 5-axis, heat treatment, surface treatment such as anodising, plating and painting, and nine inspection methods including X-ray, coordinate measurement, spectrographic analysis, ultrasonic, dye penetrant, magnetic particle, hardness testing and 3D scanning. You receive finished parts ready for assembly, not raw castings.
When is wax injection a better choice than printing?
When your quantity is high and the design is frozen. Once an injection die is amortised, injected wax is cheaper per pattern, and injection gives a smoother surface by default than a printed pattern that carries layer texture. The crossover is arithmetic rather than a fixed number: compare the die cost against the per-pattern saving multiplied by the number of patterns you actually expect to use. We run both routes, so the recommendation you get from us is not an argument for one side.