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Urethane casting large robotic encosures

Reasons to Use Vacuum (Urethane) Casting For Your Next Robotics Project

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One of the biggest industry segments we work with is the growing world of robotics. Often the clever software and mechanical components that make these things work need to be enclosed in large plastic housings. Vacuum casting, also known as Urethane casting, is one of the most popular choice for rapid prototyping and producing these enclosures and housings. Here’s why:

 

Top 6 Benefits of Urethane Casting for Robotics Manufacturing

1. Part size: As the volumes for these projects are often not massive, at least at the start, and the parts are quite large (especially life-size robots), vacuum casting is often a great choice for manufacturing. Nowadays, vacuum machines are designed to pop-out much larger parts than in the past. At HLH, we can easily cast 2m parts.

 

Urethane casting large robotic encosures

 

2. Lower upfront investments: It is cheaper and much quicker to make silicone moulds (which takes days) rather than steel or aluminium moulds (that take weeks). As such, urethane casting has a lower upfront tooling investment compared to injection moulding, allowing you to get up and running for less.

 

3. Quick turnaround: Vacuum casting tooling is faster to produce and you can have parts in much quicker lead times than via plastic injection moulding. As you have not invested too heavily in laborious hard tooling, that savings, in turn, can be invested in further product development or alternate design iterations. This is especially important, as robots tend to contain lots of complex internal components and need to constantly go through a trial and error phase.

 

4. High quality: Urethane casting creates high quality copies of the master models with excellent surface details, often producing plastic parts with quality similar to that of injection moulded parts. Furthermore, colours and surface finishes can be easily added, making the process ideal in an industry where aesthetics are valued.

 

5. Material diversity: Vacuum casting is a versatile process that accommodates a wide range of polyurethane materials. It enables the production of components with varying Shore hardness, from soft grip elements and flexible rubber parts to hard enclosures. This flexibility makes it a popular choice among industrial robot manufacturers.

 

6. Seamless integration of components: Vacuum casting can simulate overmoulding techniques that adds a layer of complexity and functionality to robotics prototypes and reduce the need for additional assembly steps.. This is particularly beneficial in robotics development, where the integration of sensors, grips, and other functional elements is crucial.

 

Common Urethane Casting Applications in the Robotics Industry

Soft Robotics

Due to its ability to work with materials that are tough enough to grip hard-to-handle objects without slipping, but gentle enough to handle delicate objects like an arm in a cast, urethane casting has shown lots of promise in soft robotic — a specific subgenre of robotics engineering that deals with constructing robots from highly compliant materials to mimic the way living organisms move and adapt to their environments.

 

Aesthetics Models

Urethane casting is commonly used to make parts with enhanced aesthetics from a range of colours and textures. This method is particularly useful for creating high quality exhibition models and low volume production parts that closely resemble those made by injection moulding.

 

urethane casting application in the robtoics industry

 

Rapid Prototyping

The flexibility of urethane casting makes it favoured for rapid prototyping, allowing designers to experiment with different aesthetic and functional designs quickly. This iterative process is crucial for refining the appearance and performance of aesthetic robots to meet user expectations and functional requirements. It is also an invaluable tool to speed up manufacturing process.

 

Vacuum Casting With HLH Rapid

Vacuum casting is a versatile process with lots of positives for manufacturing parts for the robotics and other industries. Are you thinking about using urethane casting for your next project? Get it made with us. HLH Rapid have years experience in making high quality vacuum cast parts for leading robotics companies. To get started, simply submit your CAD and project details to our contact form, and our team will get back with a quote within 24 to 48 hours or less.

 

vacuum casting services mould tooling for prototypes and low volume production

 

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