Investment Casting Feasibility

Investment Casting feasibility is covered in the following sections:

Abrasive Disc Grinding Feasibility

In starting point Digital Factories, the Abrasive Disc Grinding is feasible only if part mass is greater 5kg. Administrators can customize this threshold with the cost model variable partMassBeltSandAllowance.

Abrasive Wheel Cutting Feasibility

In starting point Digital Factories, Abrasive Wheel Cutting is feasible only if part mass is greater than 4kg. Administrators can customize this threshold with the cost model variable partMassBandSawAllowance.

Band Saw Feasibility

In starting point Digital Factories, the Band Saw process is feasible only if part mass is no greater than 4kg. Administrators can customize this threshold with the cost model variable partMassBandSawAllowance.

Belt Sand Feasibility

In starting point Digital Factories, the Belt Sand process is feasible only if part mass is no greater 5kg. Administrators can customize this threshold with the cost model variable partMassBeltSandAllowance.

Ceramic Core Firing Feasibility

The operation Ceramic Core Fire (a child of the Ceramic Core Firing process) is included in the operation sequence for a given CoreBundle only if not all the bundle’s holes and voids are shell-able. A hole or void is shell-able only if the value of its geometric property Is Shelled is true.

Ceramic Core Making Feasibility

The operation Ceramic Core (a descendent of the Ceramic Core Making process) is included in the operation sequence for a given CoreBundle only if not all the bundle’s holes and voids are shell-able. A hole or void is shell-able only if the value of its geometric property Is Shelled is true.

Ceramic Core Resting Feasibility

Ceramic Core Resting (a Component-level operation of the Bench Operation process) is included in the operation sequence for a given CoreBundle only if not all the bundle’s holes and voids are shell-able. A hole or void is shell-able only if the value of its geometric property Is Shelled is true.

Ceramic Leaching Feasibility

The operation Ceramic Leach (a child of the Ceramic Core Leaching process) is included in the operation sequence for a given CoreBundle only if not all the bundle’s holes and voids are shell-able. A hole or void is shell-able only if the value of its geometric property Is Shelled is true.

Core Finish Feasibility

Core Finish: this operation (a child of the Component-level operation Ceramic Core Finishing) is included in the operation sequence for a given CoreBundle only if not all the bundle’s holes and voids are shell-able. A hole or void is shell-able only if the value of its geometric property Is Shelled is true.

Flash Fire De-Waxing Feasibility

Flash Fire De-Waxing is included in the process routing only if the cost model variable isEnabledFlashFireFurance is set to true (the default in starting point Digital Factories).

Insulation Wrapping Feasibility

This Component-level operation of the Bench Operation process is auto-included in the routing only if the cost model variable isEnabledInsulationWrapping is set to true. In starting point Digital Factories, it is set to false.

Mold Burnout Feasibility

Mold Burnout is included in the process routing only if the cost model variable isEnabledFlashFireFurance is set to false (the default in starting point Digital Factories).

Robotic Assist Feasibility

By default in starting point Digital Factories, Robotic Assist is included in the process routing. Administrators can customize the default with the cost model variable defaultEnableAutomatedDipping (true in starting point Digital Factories). Users can override the default on a per-part basis with the routing editor.

Primary Sand Coating Feasibility

The routing includes one occurrence of this process for each primary dip cycle. By default, the number of primary dip cycles is specified by the cost model variable defaultNumPrimaryDipCycles (3 in starting point Digital Factories). Users can override the default with the setup option Number of Primary Dip Cycles.

Primary Slurry Dipping Feasibility

The routing includes one occurrence of this process for each primary dip cycle. By default, the number of primary dip cycles is specified by the cost model variable defaultNumPrimaryDipCycles (3 in starting point Digital Factories). Users can override the default with the setup option Number of Primary Dip Cycles.

Secondary Sand Coating Feasibility

The routing includes one occurrence of this process for each backup dip cycle. By default, the number of backup dip cycles is specified by one of the following the cost model variables (depending on part weight):

  • numBackupDipCycles_min (3 in starting point Digital Factories), for parts with mass no greater than the cost model variable partWeightThreshold_small (13.608kg in starting point Digital Factories).

  • numBackupDipCycles_low (6 in starting point Digital Factories), for parts with mass greater than the cost model variable partWeightThreshold_small (13.608kg in starting point Digital Factories) and no greater than the cost model variable partWeightThreshold_large (45.359 in starting point Digital Factories).

  • numBackupDipCycles_high (9 in starting point Digital Factories), for parts with mass greater than the cost model variable partWeightThreshold_large (45.359 in starting point Digital Factories).

Users can override the default with the setup option Number of Backup Dip Cycles.

Secondary Slurry Dipping Feasibility

The routing includes one occurrence of this process for each backup dip cycle. By default, the number of backup dip cycles is specified by one of the following the cost model variables (depending on part weight):

  • numBackupDipCycles_min (3 in starting point Digital Factories), for parts with mass no greater than the cost model variable partWeightThreshold_small (13.608kg in starting point Digital Factories).

  • numBackupDipCycles_low (6 in starting point Digital Factories), for parts with mass greater than the cost model variable partWeightThreshold_small (13.608kg in starting point Digital Factories) and no greater than the cost model variable partWeightThreshold_large (45.359 in starting point Digital Factories).

  • numBackupDipCycles_high (9 in starting point Digital Factories), for parts with mass greater than the cost model variable partWeightThreshold_large (45.359 in starting point Digital Factories).

Users can override the default with the setup option Number of Backup Dip Cycles.

Soluble Wax Core Making Feasibility

The operation Soluble Wax Core (a descendent of the Soluble Wax Core Making process) is included in the operation sequence for a given CoreBundle only if the value of the geometric property Is Shelled is true for all the bundle’s holes and voids.

Soluble Wax Leaching Feasibility

The operation Soluble Wax Leach (a child of the Soluble Wax Leaching process) is included in the operation sequence for a given CoreBundle only if the value of the geometric property Is Shelled is true for all the bundle’s holes and voids.

Steam Autoclave De-Waxing Feasibility

Steam Autoclave De-Waxing is included in the process routing only if the cost model variable isEnabledFlashFireFurance is set to false (the default in starting point Digital Factories).

Wax Vent Plugging Feasibility

Wax vent plugging is included only if both the following are true:

  • Wax vents are enabled: by default in starting point Digital Factories, wax vents are enabled. Administrators can customize the default with the cost model variable defaultEnableWaxVents (true in starting point Digital Factories). Users can override the default on a per-part basis with the setup option Include Wax Vents.

  • Number of wax vents per tree is greater than 0: by default in starting point Digital Factories, each tree is assumed to have 2 wax vents. Administrators can customize the default number of wax vents per tree with the cost model variable defaultNumWaxVentsPerTree (2 in starting point Digital Factories). Users can override the default with the setup option Number of Wax Vents per Tree.

Shell-able GCDs

In starting point Digital Factories, all a bundle’s child GCDs are shell-able if and only if both the following hold:

  • All the bundle’s SimpleHoles (including children of MultiStepHoles) have an acceptable length-to-diameter ratio. aPriori uses internal heuristics to determine the ratio thresholds for through holes and blind holes.

  • For all the bundle’s Voids, the void depth is no more than 1.5 times the size of the void opening. This threshold can be controlled with the site variable maxShellableVoidDepthToWidthRatio (1.5 in starting point Digital Factories).

A void’s depth is the minimum distance across the void in an accessible direction (that is, the Length of the void’s Is Accessible From relation whose length is less than or equal to the Length of any other of the void’s Is Accessible From relations).

The void opening is one of the following dimensions of the void’s bounding box:

  • The smaller of Box Height and Box Width, if the void depth equals the Box Length

  • The smaller of Box Length and Box Width, if the void depth equals the Box Height

  • The smaller of Box Height and Box Length, otherwise