Casting methods
Two casting methods. One wrong choice. And you find out after the mold is built.
Most brands hear two options and freeze. Nobody explains what the difference means for their specific part — so they guess, or go with whatever the factory recommends, without knowing whether that recommendation fits the part or just fits the factory.
HPDC
High-pressure die casting
Molten aluminum injected into the mold at high speed and pressure.
Best for
- Thin walls
- Complex geometry
- Higher volume
- Tight dimensional consistency
- Produces
- Dense material, smooth surface — good for visible or finished parts.
- Trade-off
- Higher tooling cost and a longer lead time to first trial.
- Not ideal for
- Very thick sections. Trapped air turns into porosity.
Gravity
Gravity casting
Molten aluminum poured in, filling the mold by gravitational flow.
Best for
- Thicker walls
- Simpler geometry
- Lower volume
- Structural parts
- Produces
- Fewer internal stresses — better for parts carrying mechanical load.
- Trade-off
- Slower cycle time, and less surface consistency than HPDC.
- Not ideal for
- Thin, intricate features that need a fast fill.
The wrong choice is a slow problem
Picking the wrong method doesn't usually fail on day one. It produces parts that look acceptable — until you apply a load, apply a finish, or scale the volume up. By then the mold exists, the money is spent, and the cause is three stages upstream of where the symptom showed up. That delay is what makes it expensive to trace.
The question we ask instead
Not "which method do you want." What does this part have to do, what does it have to look like, and how many do you need? Wall thickness, geometry complexity, surface requirement, and volume determine the answer.
We run both processes, so the recommendation isn't shaped by what happens to be sitting on our floor. That distinction matters more than it sounds — a shop with only one process will always find a reason your part suits it.