Polymer pioneered liquid resin casting and today is the world’s leading manufacturer of precision cast parts. We lead. Others imitate and try to catch up.
Many design engineers are not aware that liquid resin casting is an attractive alternative to injection molding for low-volume applications. Polymer’s process is fast, flexible, and ideal for production parts with annual volumes of 50 to several thousand or more.
In design terms, anything goes:
- Complex shapes, including the ability frequently to combine parts that would have to be produced separately using other processes into a single cast part
- Thick or thin walls and varying wall thicknesses
- Cast-in bosses, threads, undercuts, and graphics
- Little or no draft
- Cast-in custom colors and surface textures (no need to paint and no ugly surface paint dings)
- Very tight tolerances where needed
- Delicate component encapsulations
- Overmolding metal inserts or components and other plastic materials
- Tiny parts and very large parts. We routinely produce parts as small as one cubic inch in size and as large as six feet by six feet or more
We cast a vast assortment of thermoset materials, including materials that mimic the performance characteristics of the most popular thermoplastics used for injection molding. Choices include autoclavable materials, biocompatible materials, UV stable materials, optically clear materials, outgas-free materials, materials with high dielectric strength, rigid and flexible materials, tough materials that can perform in arctic waters, the Mojave desert, in outer space and more.
Tooling costs are a fraction of those for injection molding. We can deliver production first articles in as little as 2 to 5 weeks. Tooling modifications are inexpensive, a real bonus in the “early years” of a product’s life cycle when the part design still could change.
The casting process also is an attractive alternative for many parts traditionally made with RIM (reaction injection molding), structural foam, thermoforming, or pressure forming.