Vacuum casting is an advantageous and fast technique for producing small series or prototypes where the right material properties are important for functional testing.
A soft silicone tool is made from a 3D-printed SLA master. In the cavity that the SLA master creates is the silicone, 20-25 components can be cast with the desired material properties, color and finish. The materials used are polyurethane-based with different properties and several different thermoplastics can be simulated, including glass fiber reinforced. The picture shows a customer project on a 2k-molded electronics enclosure with smooth surfaces, the materials simulate PP and a soft TPE, respectively. About twenty components were cast to test so that
the sealing principle worked as intended and the microswitches under the TPE buttons gave the correct response.
