HOW MANY PIECES DO I NEED TO MAKE BUYING AN INVESTMENT CASTING PRACTICAL?
Not as many as you think! Tooling amortization is a key factor in determining whether or not an investment casting is practical. The machine tool industry will often specify an investment casting on 25 pieces of a new part. This is bought once and after that only one or two pieces at a time for replacements. Conversely, quantities exceeding 100,000 parts per month are produced by some foundries largely for automotive use. The bulk of investment castings produced fall in the 100-10,000 piece annual range.
