Plastic Casting

RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanizing) rubber molds fulfill your need for multiple plastic prototypes with superior material properties. To get production quality urethane castings you need two things: RTV silicone tooling and vacuum casting machines. Vacuum casting gives you consistent void free urethane parts that can be molded in color and texture. From small intricate internal parts to large appliance housings, Dinsmore & Associates use it’s vacuum casting machines to make 1-100 units.

In the RTV tooling process, liquid silicone rubber is poured around a master pattern typically an SLA or CNC part. The resulting mold is pulled from the pattern and cured, then subsequently used to cast urethane parts. The key advantage of this process is being able to obtain higher quantities of prototypes at relatively low cost.

The process begins by generating and finishing an SLA pattern part which is then set in a silicone based liquid rubber. Once the rubber sets, the SLA part is removed by slicing the rubber at a “parting line”. The rubber mold is then closed and filled with a Urethane based resin that matches the customer’s needs, and performs very similar to the production injection molded part.

Since the process is based on an SLA (or even CNC) pattern, RTV molds can have features that are difficult and expensive for other tooling methods. Features such as: Zero draft, Undercuts, Indented features, Complex parting lines, Side pulls, Convoluted channels, etc.

The extensive selection of Urethane casting materials allows for a variety of aesthetic and functional properties that serve everyone from the lighting industry to the cosmetics industry, including materials that are UL listed, Optically clear, Highly durable, Heat resistant, and a variety of Colors.

Contact an Account Manager today for more information.

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