Vacuum Casting Service
Get urethane and resin parts with production-level quality and excellent surface finish — delivered fast with the vacuum casting process.
- Fast Turnaround: First parts ready in 7–10 days
- Cost-Effective for Low Volumes: Ideal for runs of 10–50 parts
- Material Flexibility: ABS-like, PP-like, and rubber-like urethanes available
Vacuum Casting Services
What is Vacuum Casting?
Vacuum casting is a rapid manufacturing process used to produce urethane or resin parts by pouring material into a silicone mold under vacuum. This technique eliminates air bubbles, ensuring smooth surfaces and consistent part quality.
When you need small batches of parts that look and perform like injection-molded components, vacuum casting is one of the most efficient solutions. Instead of investing in costly steel tooling, we create a silicone mold from your master model and use a vacuum process to cast parts with high surface quality and dimensional accuracy.
Our Technical Specifications
Capability | Specification |
|---|---|
Typical Part Size | Up to 600 × 400 × 200 mm |
Batch Size | Ideal for 10–50 parts per mold |
Tolerances | ±0.2 mm for most geometries (depends on part size and complexity) |
Mold Life | 15–20 shots per silicone mold |
Material Options | ABS-like, PP-like, transparent, and rubber-like urethanes |
Surface Finishes | Matte, glossy, painted, textured, or plated |
Applications of Vacuum Casting Process
Appearance Prototypes
Create parts with a smooth, production-like surface that accurately reflects the final product. Perfect for design reviews, photography, and investor presentations where first impressions matter.
Functional Testing
Vacuum-cast urethane parts can be made in materials that mimic ABS, PP, and rubber-like properties. You can test fit, assembly, and performance before committing to injection molds.
Trade Show & Demo Samples
Produce realistic parts for investor demos, trade shows, or marketing events without waiting for production tooling. These parts look and feel like production components.
Market Testing
Run limited batches of 10–50 parts to gather user feedback, validate demand, or support a soft launch. This approach minimizes risk and saves tooling cost while keeping your schedule moving.
Materials for Vacuum Casting Service
Our vacuum casting service supports a wide range of polyurethane and resin materials, allowing you to simulate production plastics for both appearance and functional testing.
Material Type | Typical Properties | Applications |
|---|---|---|
ABS-like Urethane | Good toughness, easy to machine | Enclosures, housings, general prototypes |
PP-like Urethane | Excellent flexibility, chemical resistance | Snap-fit parts, living hinges, fluid-contact parts |
Transparent Urethane | High clarity, polishable surface | Light covers, clear display parts |
Rubber-like Urethane | Shore A 40–90 hardness range | Gaskets, seals, overmold simulations |
High-Temp Urethane | Heat deflection up to 120 °C+ | Under-hood parts, functional testing |
Custom colors and special properties can be specified during quoting.
Our Standard Surface Finishes
Finish Type | Description | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|
Matte Finish | Smooth, low-gloss surface | Consumer products, enclosures |
Glossy Finish | Polished, high-shine appearance | Display parts, decorative components |
Painting | Custom colors, textures, or soft-touch coating | Market testing, visual prototypes |
Texturing | Molded or post-processed patterns (MT, SPI) | Grip surfaces, aesthetic design |
Plating / Coating | Metal-like finish or protective coating | Appearance models, EMI shielding |
These finishes help you replicate the exact look of your final product, making vacuum-cast parts suitable for functional testing, investor demos, or early customer trials.
Advantages of Vacuum Casting
Fast Turnaround
Get production-quality urethane parts in 7–10 days. This short lead time helps you validate designs, gather feedback, and stay on track for product launches.
Cost-Effective
Silicone molds are quick to produce and much cheaper than steel tools, making vacuum casting ideal for 10–50 parts per run. You save on tooling while still getting reliable, repeatable parts.
Production-Quality Parts
Vacuum casting captures fine details from the master model and delivers smooth, accurate surfaces. Available materials mimic ABS, PP, and even rubber-like parts, so you can run true functional tests.
Supports Design Validation
Use real parts to check fit, assembly, and appearance before committing to injection molds. This early validation reduces the risk of costly design changes later in the project.
How to Get Started
Share Your Design & Get Quote
Upload your 3D CAD files, quantity, and material requirements. Our engineers review the design and provide a quote plus DFM feedback within 24 hours.
Build the Master & Mold
We create a high-quality master model and use it to form a silicone mold that captures every surface detail.
Vacuum Casting & Curing
Urethane is mixed, degassed under vacuum, and poured into the mold. After curing, parts are removed, trimmed, and post-processed.
Inspection & Delivery
Each part is inspected for accuracy and finish before being packaged and shipped worldwide.
We support CAD, STL, STEP, and IGES formats. Contact us if you encounter any upload issues.
Choose us for vacuum casting services and get up to 100% mould cost refund!
How Vacuum Casting Works
A high-quality master model is created first, usually by CNC machining or high-resolution 3D printing. This model is then used to form a silicone mold that captures every surface detail.
Liquid urethane is mixed, degassed under vacuum, and poured into the mold. The vacuum step removes air bubbles and ensures complete filling for smooth, accurate parts. After curing, the parts are removed, trimmed, and post-processed, such as painting or polishing, before final inspection and delivery.
Our Equipment
CMM
Inspection
High Speed CNC Machines
Double-Head EDM Machines
EDM
Workshop
CNC machining Workshop
Plastic Injection Molding Room
Mirror EDM Machining
Mould Spotting Machine
Plastic Injection Team
Meet Our Expert Team: The Driving Force Behind TDL Mold’s Innovative Solutions.
Explore More Rapid Prototyping Options
Looking for other ways to bring your designs to life quickly? In addition to vacuum casting, we offer several complementary rapid prototyping services to fit different needs.
When you need parts made from production-grade plastics or metals, CNC machining is the most reliable option. It delivers excellent dimensional accuracy (often ±0.01 mm), smooth surface finishes, and a wide range of material choices — from aluminum to engineering plastics. This process is ideal for functional prototypes, assemblies that need tight tolerances, and low-volume bridge production where strength and heat resistance matter.
Perfect for projects that require complex geometries, fast design iterations, or internal features that would be impossible to machine. We offer multiple 3D printing technologies (FDM, SLA, SLS, MJF) to match your needs for strength, surface finish, or cost-efficiency. 3D printing lets you validate designs overnight, explore multiple variants in parallel, and accelerate your development cycle without the upfront cost of tooling.
When you’re ready to move beyond prototypes and need production-quality parts, rapid injection molding is the fastest way to get there. Using aluminum tooling, we can produce hundreds to thousands of parts in production-grade resins within 1–2 weeks. This service is perfect for bridge production, functional testing under real conditions, and market validation before full-scale manufacturing.
FAQ's
Most vacuum casting projects are completed in 7–10 days from receipt of your master model or 3D CAD files. This includes silicone mold making, casting, curing, and basic finishing. Larger or more complex parts may require a few extra days, but this process is still much faster than building an injection mold.
A typical silicone mold can produce 15–20 parts before it starts to lose accuracy or surface quality. The exact number depends on part geometry, material choice, and finish requirements. For larger runs, we can make multiple molds in parallel to meet your quantity and schedule.
Vacuum-cast parts typically achieve ±0.2 mm dimensional accuracy for most geometries. Accuracy may vary slightly depending on part size, wall thickness, and the master model quality. For critical dimensions, we recommend a DFM review before starting to ensure the design can meet your tolerance requirements.