Why would I want to spend the money on a high pressure die cast when sand and plaster can be used to pass my testing requirements?
Future recommends gravity casting for low volumes only or for ferrous castings as they cannot be die cast. A die casting for aluminum and zinc parts can actually be cheaper if you need more than 25 parts, usually it is less money if you can justify needing over 100 parts. Properly validated testing though is a big reason to go die cast. If the design is new, a true die cast validates the alloy, its performance and if the part can be dimensionally processed as expected using as little secondary processing as possible. It is very important in todays law suit prone society to provide properly tested parts before commercial sales or for early commercial beta launch. If testing is required to validate your die cast part then you should test the part using the actual process (high pressure) and the correct alloy. If there are commercial field failures of the casting and legal actions are taken, your validation and durability data should show that you used the correct alloy and the same proce
