Graphicast’s Design and Prototyping Service Continues to Receive National Recognition in Design News
August 27, 2010
Graphicast’s Design and Rapid Prototyping Service (DRPS) continues to receive national recognition. The most recent issue of the Design News website features our process as the lead article. Unique to other prototyping processes, Graphicast will produce a prototype in our ZA12 alloy with all the features present on a finished, machined castings. This way, our customers can test an exact copy of their machined casting before we even begin to cut the graphite mold! Prototypes such as these confirm design intent and casting performance to ensure the final design meets all the design criteria. Having the finished part design and machining program in place with the prototype shortens the time to produce the mold and first production runs of the machined casting. Our customers and prospects are discovering the value of this service, as we see more new parts going through this prototyping process first.
Prototype Part? Looks Like a Machined Casting.
August 11, 2010
We can help you, design engineers!
July 2, 2010
In a recent survey of design engineers , Product Design and Development magazine found that four major challenges exist in the new product development process:
1. Project management
2. Controlling costs
3. Improving time to market
4. Component selection
Building Molds, Building Relationships
May 19, 2010
Graphicast recently sold a mold to National Optronics, Charlottesville VA. Since 2005, National Optronics has developed 8 tools producing value added cast and machined parts with Graphicast.
National Optronics, a manufacture of eye glass lens grinding equipment ,looks to Graphicast to make value added components for their equipment. Graphicast often reviews part and assembly prints for their equipment with them to determine if we can achieve cost savings by combining multiple parts into a single casting. Other savings are found when it is more economical to machine a casting than to machine a component from bar stock.
More than your average win-win situation, this has become a rare and appreciated relationship. A few years of review, understanding and design collaboration has lead to strong and fluid communications between the organizations. Today, projects are developed start to finish with relative ease, savings are realized, and at the end of a project, well, speaking for Graphicast, we are happy to have completed another job for National Optronics.
Graphicast Process Featured in Latest Designfax Issue
May 11, 2010
The Graphicast LTA casting process is highlighted in the feature article in Designfax Issue 18. Designfax offers tips and guidelines for design engineers, a key audience for our process information.
Interzinc Goes to Texas
April 22, 2010
Thanks to Doug Rourke of the International Zinc Association for his feedback from Texas:
Interzinc, the zinc casting market development organization (www.interzinc.org), made a swing through Texas with seminars in Dallas, Austin and Houston. The seminars received enthusiastic response from attendees who learned how zinc castings can produce lower cost and better performing parts due to the excellent mechanical properties of zinc alloys and the efficient casting processes
Doug Rourke – International Zinc Association
Graphicast Featured in Casting Tutorial in the April Issue of Product Design and Development
April 17, 2010
Product Design and Development features Graphicast in its tutorial, “Casting 101″, in the April issue of the magazine. Several casting suppliers offer their guidance on what to think about when considering casting as a manufacturing process. This is not the first time Product Design and Development has recognized our graphite permanent mold process. Over the past five years, the magazine has featured us five other times, highlighting the many attributes of the process that designers should consider when looking for lower cost, higher performance manufacturing methods.
Design2Part Show Dallas
March 11, 2010
Traffic has been good both days, with an unusual number of attendees from local machine shops yesterday. Their customers are pressing for lower part cost, and one solution is a near net shape casting that requires minimal secondary machining. Lower cost solutions seem to be driving most attendees this year, although I have been encouraged to to see a number of design engineers show up with projects they are working on that will potentially involve castings.










