Die Casting & Investment Casting Parts

What we machine on this process

Die casting is the process we recommend when a part needs a repeatable net shape at volume and the mould cost can be spread across the run. We arrange aluminium and zinc die casting, then machine the features that matter — bores, faces, threads and sealing surfaces — on our own floor in Qidong City, Jiangsu Province, China. The result is a single job with one drawing, one quote and one delivery, whether the raw shape comes from a die or from bar stock on our CNC machining floor. Typical parts include housings, brackets, covers, gearbox shells and connector bodies. Where a part is mostly prismatic and volume is low, we say so in DFM and quote it as a CNC turning or milling part instead of pushing tooling you do not need.

Materials and finishes

Most die cast work we manage uses aluminium or zinc alloys, chosen in DFM for strength, corrosion behaviour and the finish the part will carry. When a drawing needs tighter mechanical properties than a cast alloy offers, we quote the same geometry in machined aluminium 6061 or 7075 from our materials range so you can compare cost against performance. After casting, parts can be deburred, machined, threaded and finished; plating, anodising and other treatments are arranged through our vetted partner network, managed under one quality process. The finish requirement sits on the same drawing, so you do not need to coordinate a second supplier.

Size, tolerance and capacity limits

As-cast surfaces follow the draft and tolerance agreed in the tooling plan; features that must be exact are machined after casting to ±0.01 mm, with general dimensions held to ISO 2768-m unless the drawing states otherwise. The machining side of a cast-then-machine job is limited by our 800 × 500 mm milling envelope, and the floor runs over 100,000 parts per month across all processes. Casting size is evaluated per drawing — we confirm shot size, die layout and any draft or undercut issues before tooling starts. If volume is too low to justify a die, we quote the part machined from solid and say so in DFM.

Documents and shipping

Every cast-then-machine job is treated as one part under one process: one supplier, one quality process, and the route chosen by the part. Our factory in Qidong City, Jiangsu Province, China carries the machining, threading and finishing steps, while casting, plating and similar steps run through our vetted partner network, managed under one quality process — a single drawing, a single contact and a single delivery. Parts ship with a material certificate (MTR) for the alloy and pre-shipment photos, so you can see exactly what leaves the floor before it is packed. Send a drawing through the request a quote form and the whole route is laid out in one response.

Industries we support

Die cast parts show up wherever volume, weight and enclosure matter: motor housings, pump bodies, valve bodies, brackets, instrument cases and heatsink parts across industries such as general machinery, automation and instrumentation. When a casting pairs with machined fittings, we run both under one order — for example a cast housing with a machined sealing face and threaded ports. For flat or formed metal work that does not need a die, see sheet metal fabrication; for formed parts at high volume, see metal stamping.

Design guidelines for cost and manufacturability

The two biggest cost levers in die casting are wall thickness and draft. Keep walls as uniform as you can, add draft on faces that pull from the die, and avoid sudden thick-to-thin transitions that invite porosity or sink. Radius inside corners, avoid undercuts where possible, and leave machining allowance only where a face is later cut — a bore, a flange face or a thread. On cast-then-machine parts, give us the machined tolerances on the drawing and we hold ±0.01 mm on those features while the rest of the part keeps as-cast tolerance. Tooling is quoted separately and amortised across the run, so the more you make the lower the true cost per part. Send the drawing and we return DFM feedback within 24 hours.