Trushape 3D prints a sacrificial pattern of your part and casts it in real metal: fully dense parts from 0.005 to 30 kg (0.2 oz to 66 lb) in 50+ alloys, with no hard tooling and first metal in 2 to 4 weeks, for buyers across North America and Europe.
Rapid manufacturing, also called rapid casting or 3D-printed investment casting, joins 3D printing to the foundry. A sacrificial pattern of the part is printed on FDM or SLA printers instead of being injected in wax tooling, then built into a ceramic shell, burned out and replaced by molten metal. The result is a fully dense metal part in a standard casting alloy, made in weeks and with no hard tooling.
Trushape Precision Castings is an ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 13485 certified foundry in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India, with 3 FDM and 2 SLA printers beside its investment casting line. We make functional prototypes, bridge batches and legacy parts from 0.005 to 30 kg (0.2 oz to 66 lb) in more than 50 alloys, hold CT5 to CT7 to VDG P690, and heat-treat, machine and test them under one roof for buyers across the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Follow one pump impeller from a CAD file to an inspected metal part. The printing, casting, machining and measuring all happen under one roof in Bhavnagar, with records that trace the part back to its heat.
Send a 3D CAD file, or a sample for us to scan. Our engineers review castability, wall sections, gating and alloy, and scale the model for shrinkage so the metal comes out to size.
The model is sliced into thin layers and a print path is set for each one, with print settings chosen so the pattern is stiff enough to handle yet burns out cleanly later.
An FDM or SLA printer builds the sacrificial pattern layer by layer in hours, from our own clean-burnout filaments or castable resin, with no metal tooling at all.
The printed pattern is joined to a wax sprue and pouring cup, just like a wax pattern, so it runs through the same controlled foundry route as our series castings.
The assembly is dipped in ceramic slurry and stuccoed coat after coat. A fine primary coat captures every detail of the printed surface, and backup coats add strength.
The shell is fired so the printed pattern burns out completely, leaving a hollow cavity. Our special-purpose filaments are made to burn out cleanly, without ash.
Metal from our induction furnaces, at 1,400 to 1,700°C (2,550 to 3,090°F) depending on the alloy, fills the hot shell. Every heat is checked by spectrometer, so the part is a true foundry casting in a standard grade.
The shell is knocked off, gates are cut and the part is heat-treated and machined as needed. It is then measured against your CAD model on a Zeiss CMM and ships with an EN 10204 3.1 certificate.
A tooled route waits for wax tooling before a single part exists. A printed pattern skips that wait. Pick a kind of part to compare the two routes. The weeks are typical and indicative, and yours are confirmed at quotation.
| Kind of part | Tooled route | Rapid route | Weeks saved | Faster by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple prototype | About 8 weeks | About 2 weeks | About 6 | About 4x |
| Functional part, bridge run | About 10 weeks | About 3 weeks | About 7 | About 3x |
| Complex casting, thin walls | About 14 weeks | About 4 weeks | About 10 | About 3.5x |
| Legacy part, no drawings | About 16 weeks | About 4 weeks | About 12 | About 4x |
FDM lays down a fine bead of filament, layer on layer, for robust patterns. SLA cures liquid resin with a laser for fine detail and smooth surfaces. We choose the printer for each part, and both feed the same investment casting line.
A heated nozzle draws each layer in filament. Our FDM printers handle multiple materials, and we make our own special-purpose filaments that burn out of the ceramic shell cleanly and without ash.
A laser traces each layer in a vat of liquid resin and cures it solid, so the pattern grows with very fine layers. It suits small, intricate parts where detail and surface matter most.
When the tooling is gone and the drawings are lost, a worn sample is enough. Watch a gear with a broken tooth go from scan to a restored CAD model to new metal, or pick a step.
Because the final step is investment casting, a printed-pattern part holds the same CT5 to CT7 as our series investment castings, to VDG P690, the German standard for investment castings. Slide to your nominal dimension and pick a grade to see the tolerance you can expect as-cast.
| Nominal size (mm) | Nominal size (in) | D1, free (mm) | D2, standard (mm) | D3, by agreement (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 6 | Up to 0.24 | ±0.30 | ±0.24 | ±0.20 |
| 6 to 10 | 0.24 to 0.39 | ±0.36 | ±0.28 | ±0.22 |
| 10 to 18 | 0.39 to 0.71 | ±0.44 | ±0.34 | ±0.28 |
| 18 to 30 | 0.71 to 1.18 | ±0.52 | ±0.40 | ±0.34 |
| 30 to 50 | 1.18 to 1.97 | ±0.80 | ±0.62 | ±0.50 |
| 50 to 80 | 1.97 to 3.15 | ±0.90 | ±0.74 | ±0.60 |
| 80 to 120 | 3.15 to 4.72 | ±1.10 | ±0.88 | ±0.70 |
| 120 to 180 | 4.72 to 7.09 | ±1.60 | ±1.30 | ±1.00 |
| 180 to 250 | 7.09 to 9.84 | ±2.40 | ±1.90 | ±1.50 |
| 250 to 315 | 9.84 to 12.40 | ±2.60 | ±2.20 | ±1.60 |
| 315 to 400 | 12.40 to 15.75 | ±3.60 | ±2.80 | n/a |
| 400 to 500 | 15.75 to 19.69 | ±4.00 | ±3.20 | n/a |
| 500 to 630 | 19.69 to 24.80 | ±5.40 | ±4.40 | n/a |
| 630 to 800 | 24.80 to 31.50 | ±6.20 | ±5.00 | n/a |
| 800 to 1,000 | 31.50 to 39.37 | ±7.20 | n/a | n/a |
VDG P690 linear tolerances for steel, nickel, cobalt and copper alloys (grades D1, D2, D3). Printed patterns and wax patterns give the same casting accuracy, and tighter tolerances on critical features are reached by CNC machining.
Full tolerance tables and ISO 8062-3 gradesEvery route has a sweet spot. Pick one to raise its profile in 3D and drag to turn the chart. The scores are relative and indicative; the right choice depends on size, quantity, alloy and tolerance.
A printed pattern replaces the wax tooling, and the part is investment cast in a standard alloy, so you get foundry metallurgy in weeks with nothing to amortise.
A laser melts metal powder layer by layer, which allows lattices and forms no casting can make, but machines and powders are costly, the alloy range is limited and parts often need stress relief or HIP.
Wax patterns are injected into hard tooling, which gives the lowest cost per part once volumes are steady, but the tooling takes weeks to make and has to pay for itself.
Cutting a part from bar or billet needs no tooling and gives the finest accuracy, but complex parts turn much of the metal into chips and take long machine time.
| Criterion | Rapid manufacturing | Metal 3D printing | Tooled investment casting | Machining from solid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pattern or method | 3D-printed polymer pattern, then investment casting | Metal powder melted by a laser | Wax injected into hard tooling | Cut from bar or billet |
| Tooling | None | None | Wax tooling made first | None |
| Time to first part | 2 to 4 weeks | Often the fastest for small parts | 8 to 12 weeks | Fast for simple parts |
| Materials | 50+ castable alloys | A limited range of powders | 50+ castable alloys | Any machinable alloy |
| Metallurgy | Fully dense, heat-treatable to standard specs | Near-dense, often needs stress relief or HIP | Fully dense | Wrought |
| Weight range | 0.005 to 30 kg | Usually small parts | 0.003 to 30 kg | Limited by stock size |
| Best for | Prototypes, bridge batches, legacy parts | Small, highly complex parts | Series production | Simple parts, a few off |
Pick what your part needs most. The deck turns to the alloy family we would start with, with ASTM, EN and UNS equivalents, relative ratings and the parts it usually goes into.
Need: General corrosion
Typical parts: pump and valve prototypes, food, marine and medical hardware.
The default for corrosion resistance, and the most common prototype alloy.
Need: High strength
Typical parts: brackets, levers, aerospace and instrument prototypes.
Strength close to low-alloy steel with stainless corrosion resistance, set by age hardening in-house.
Need: Chlorides and seawater
Typical parts: seawater pump and valve parts, offshore and chemical fittings.
Chloride resistance with about twice the yield strength of 316L.
Need: Cavitation and erosion
Typical parts: impellers, diffusers, turbine and pump parts.
Tough and cavitation resistant, the classic grade for hydraulic machinery.
Need: Strength and wear
Typical parts: valve bodies, gears, levers and machinery parts.
Strength and wear resistance after heat treatment in-house.
Need: High temperature
Typical parts: heat-resistant, aerospace and chemical process parts.
Keeps its strength and resists oxidation where steels soften.
Need: Aggressive chemicals
Typical parts: chemical process pump and valve parts.
For acids, chlorides and oxidising media where stainless grades would pit.
Need: Wear and galling
Typical parts: valve seats, wear parts and hard-wearing tooling.
Holds up to wear, galling, heat and corrosion at the same time.
Need: Light weight
Typical parts: housings, brackets and lightweight prototypes.
About a third of the weight of steel, and heat-treatable for strength.
Need: Seawater and bearings
Typical parts: marine pump and valve parts, bushings and wear rings.
Strong and resistant to seawater corrosion and cavitation.
A starting point for engineers comparing cast grades across North American and European specifications. Final selection always follows your drawing, service conditions and governing standard.
| Alloy family | Common grades | Equivalents | Why it is chosen | Typical parts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austenitic stainless | 304, 316, 316L, CF8, CF8M, CD4MCu | 1.4308, 1.4408, 1.4409 | Corrosion resistance and toughness | Pump and valve prototypes, food and medical hardware |
| Precipitation-hardening stainless | 17-4PH (CB7Cu-1) | 1.4525, UNS J92180 | High strength after age hardening | Brackets, levers, instrument parts |
| Duplex and super duplex | 2205 (F51), 2507, CD3MN, CE3MN | 1.4470, 1.4469 | Chloride resistance with high strength | Seawater pump and valve parts |
| Martensitic stainless | CA6NM | 1.4317, UNS J91540 | Toughness, cavitation and erosion resistance | Impellers, diffusers, turbine parts |
| Carbon and low-alloy steel | WCB, EN8, EN24, 4140, 4340, 8620 | 1.0619, 42CrMo4 (1.7225) | Strength and wear after heat treatment | Valve bodies, gears, machinery parts |
| Nickel superalloys | Inconel 625, Inconel 718 | ASTM A494 CW6MC, AMS 5383 | Strength and oxidation resistance at heat | Heat-resistant and aerospace parts |
| Nickel corrosion alloys | Hastelloy C-276, Monel 400 | ASTM A494 CW12MW, M35-1 | Resistance to acids and aggressive media | Chemical process parts |
| Cobalt alloys | Stellite 6, 12, 21 | UNS R30006, R30012, R30021 | Wear, galling and heat resistance | Valve seats, wear parts |
| Aluminium alloys | A356, LM25 | EN AC-42100 | Light weight and good castability | Housings, lightweight prototypes |
| Copper alloys | C95800 nickel aluminium bronze, phosphor bronze | CC333G | Seawater and bearing performance | Marine pump and valve parts, bushings |
Equivalents are the closest common matches, shown for comparison. We cast to the ASTM, EN, ISO or customer specification on your drawing and verify the chemistry of every heat by spectrometer.
See all 50+ alloy gradesA CAD file arrives. The pattern is printed in hours, not tooled in weeks. And the metal is real: fully dense, heat-treatable, any of more than fifty alloys, in your hands in two to four weeks.
A rapid casting is a real casting, so it gets the checks a series part gets: the chemistry of every heat, mechanical tests, NDT and a dimensional report against your CAD model. What you test is what production will deliver.
Every heat checked on Spectromaxx and Bruker spectrometers against your grade.
Mechanical properties tested to your material specification, on test bars from the same heat.
First parts measured against your CAD model and drawing, with a full dimensional report.
Internal soundness of critical sections, to the acceptance level you specify.
Surface-breaking cracks and porosity on stainless and other non-magnetic grades.
Surface and near-surface flaws on carbon and low-alloy steels.
Solution annealing, hardening, tempering and ageing in-house, with a chart for every load.
Leak and pressure checks on valve and pump prototypes where your plan requires them.
One record from print to dispatch, ready for your qualification tests and your customers' audits. Material certificates are issued to EN 10204 3.1 as standard, and to 3.2 when your order calls for independent inspection.
A printed pattern frees the design from tooling, but the part is still a casting. These are the guidelines our engineers use when they review a new rapid part. Hover or tap a card to turn it over.
Data. A 3D CAD model is the fastest start. If you only have a drawing or a worn sample, we model or scan it for you.
Draft. A printed pattern is never pulled out of a die, so it needs no draft. Add draft only where the part may later move to wax tooling.
Freedom. Printing builds undercuts and organic shapes that would need side actions or loose pieces in a tool. Long internal passages are agreed at design review.
Walls. Uniform walls fill and solidify evenly. Blend thick to thin gradually so heavy sections can feed without shrinkage.
Corners. Generous fillets help metal flow, remove hot spots and lower stress. Sharp internal corners concentrate stress and invite cracks.
Tolerances. Rapid castings hold CT5 to CT7, with VDG P690 D2 as standard. Mark functional features and datums, and we machine the few that need more.
Machining. Add allowance only on faces, bores and threads that must be machined. Everything else can stay as-cast.
Volume. Each design change costs only a new print. Once the design is frozen and volumes grow, the same geometry moves to wax tooling.
A printed pattern changes how the mould is made, not the metal. Rapid castings are poured, tested and documented to the same casting, tolerance and inspection standards as our series investment castings.
Trushape holds ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 13485. We do not hold AS9100, IATF 16949 or PED approvals, so aerospace, automotive and pressure-equipment prototypes are cast to your drawing, specification and inspection plan, and product qualification stays with you. We support it with samples, test data and full records.
Download our certificatesAn export-focused foundry with a dedicated export desk, already shipping castings to Germany, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Italy. Pick a region to trace the lane from Bhavnagar.
Product development, pump, valve and machinery teams from Chicago to Boston that need functional metal prototypes fast.
Engineering, energy and equipment makers around Toronto and Montreal.
Nearshore manufacturers in Nuevo León, Querétaro and Guanajuato that need prototypes and bridge parts ahead of series tooling.
Engineering, pump and medical device makers across the Midlands and Ireland.
Machinery, automotive and engineering suppliers in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria that value Feinguss prototypes without tooling.
Valve, pump and high-tech equipment makers in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Machinery builders in Lombardy, and engineering and energy companies in Sweden.
Prototypes and urgent samples travel by air freight, and series parts by sea in export packing. Delivery terms and documentation are agreed with our export desk for each order, and every shipment carries English certificates and reports.
Drag the ring or let it turn. Each card shows a part family we print and cast, the alloys we typically use and why the rapid route suits it, from 0.005 to 30 kg (0.2 oz to 66 lb).
AlloysCF8M, CA6NM, duplex
IndustryPumps and water
Curved vanes printed with no tooling, then balanced and machined.
AlloysCF8M, WCB, duplex
IndustryFlow control
Test a new design in the production alloy before tooling.
AlloysAs the original, or upgraded
IndustryMaintenance and repair
Scanned from a worn sample when drawings are lost.
Alloys316L, 17-4PH
IndustryMedical devices
From an ISO 13485 certified foundry, for design verification builds.
Alloys17-4PH, Inconel 718
IndustryAerospace and defence
Cast to your drawing and inspection plan for qualification.
AlloysInconel 625, Stellite 21
IndustryEnergy and furnaces
Superalloy parts without the cost of metal powders.
AlloysDuplex 2205, C95800
IndustryMarine
Seawater-resistant prototypes and short runs.
AlloysSuper duplex, Inconel 625
IndustryOil and gas
Bridge parts while series tooling is being made.
Alloys4140, 8620
IndustryMachinery
Heat-treated in-house for strength and wear.
AlloysA356, LM25, 316
IndustryElectronics and instruments
Thin walls and bosses cast close to final shape.
Alloys316, 17-4PH
IndustryInstrumentation
Small, detailed parts from SLA patterns.
AlloysStellite 6, 12
IndustryValves and processing
Cobalt alloys cast without costly tooling.
Product teams in North America and Europe bring prototypes, bridge batches and legacy parts to us for the same six reasons.
Affordable FDM and SLA printers, standard casting alloys instead of proprietary powders and no HIP step keep the cost well under DMLS or SLM for equivalent parts.
Lower costStainless, duplex, low-alloy, nickel, cobalt, copper and aluminium grades, the same metals your production part will use.
Foundry metallurgyNo tooling to wait for. A printed pattern goes straight into the shell room, so first metal arrives in weeks, not months.
SpeedUndercuts, organic curves and thin walls that would need slow, costly tooling print in hours, and design changes cost only a new print.
ComplexityReal foundry castings, fully dense and heat-treatable to standard specifications, with no HIP step, tested and certified to EN 10204 3.1.
Production gradeScanning, printing, casting, heat treatment, CNC machining and testing in one facility, with a dedicated export desk and English documentation.
IntegratedHow 3D printing grew from a prototyping curiosity into a practical way to make metal parts without tooling.
Chuck Hull patents stereolithography, curing liquid resin layer by layer with ultraviolet light, and founds 3D Systems. Rapid prototyping is born.
Foundries start to replace wax with printed patterns. Hollow, lattice-filled resin patterns that collapse as they burn out make investment casting from a print practical.
Direct metal laser sintering and selective laser melting become industrial tools that print metal parts directly, but machines and powders stay expensive and the alloy choice narrow.
Key patents expire, desktop FDM printers become affordable and reliable, and printed patterns become an everyday tool for fast, low-cost casting.
FDM and SLA printers, our own clean-burnout filaments and a full investment casting line turn a CAD file into a certified metal part in 2 to 4 weeks.
It is a hybrid of 3D printing and investment casting. We 3D print a sacrificial pattern of your part on FDM or SLA printers, build a ceramic shell around it, burn the pattern out and pour real metal. You get fully dense castings from 0.005 to 30 kg (0.2 oz to 66 lb) in 50+ alloys, with no hard tooling and first metal in 2 to 4 weeks.
No. DMLS and SLM melt metal powder layer by layer in costly machines, from a limited range of powders, and parts often need stress relief or HIP. We print only the pattern in polymer and cast the part in standard foundry alloys, so it is fully dense, heat-treatable to the usual specifications and available in 50+ grades.
First metal typically arrives 2 to 4 weeks after we receive your 3D CAD file, depending on size, complexity and alloy. A traditional investment casting route waits 8 to 12 weeks for wax tooling first. Urgent projects can be expedited by agreement.
For equivalent parts it is typically 60 to 80% cheaper than DMLS or SLM. The savings come from affordable FDM and SLA printers instead of metal printers, standard casting alloys instead of proprietary powders, and no HIP step. Against tooled casting, you save the cost and the weeks of the wax tooling.
More than 50 grades, including stainless steels such as 304, 316L, CF8M, 17-4PH and CD4MCu, carbon and low-alloy steels such as WCB, EN8, EN24, 4140 and 8620, Inconel 625 and 718, Hastelloy C-276, Monel 400, Stellite 6, 12 and 21, duplex and super duplex grades, and copper and aluminium alloys such as C95800 and A356.
Rapid manufactured castings run from 0.005 to 30 kg (0.2 oz to 66 lb), from small medical and instrument parts to impellers, valve bodies and industrial housings. Heavier parts up to 90 kg (198 lb) move to our shell molding and lost foam lines.
The same as investment casting, because that is the final step: CT5 to CT7, with VDG P690 grade D2 as standard and D3 by agreement. A 30 to 50 mm dimension, for example, is ±0.62 mm at D2. Tighter features are finished on our 8 CNC machines, including 4-axis Makino VMCs.
Three FDM printers capable of multi-material printing and two SLA printers for high-resolution patterns. We also make our own special-purpose filaments, developed to burn out of the ceramic shell cleanly and without ash.
Yes. We 3D scan or measure a physical sample, rebuild it as an accurate CAD model, restoring worn or broken features, and then print the pattern and cast the part. It is ideal for legacy and obsolete parts whose tooling and drawings no longer exist.
Printed patterns suit prototypes, design changes, bridge batches and low volumes, because each pattern is made without tooling. Once a design is frozen and volumes grow, hard wax tooling brings the cost per part down. We run both routes and advise on the switch point for your part.
Yes. Heat treatment, CNC machining, finishing and inspection all happen in-house. Every heat is checked by spectrometer, dimensions are verified on a Zeiss CMM, NDT is available, and castings ship with EN 10204 3.1 certificates as standard and 3.2 on request.
Yes. Trushape exports castings to Germany, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Italy and serves buyers across North America and Europe, including the United States, Canada and Mexico. Prototypes can travel by air freight and series parts by sea, with English documentation.
Four decades after the first stereolithography patent, a printed pattern and an ancient casting process still make one of the fastest routes to a real metal part. Trushape prints, casts, heat-treats, machines and verifies it under one roof for engineering teams across North America and Europe.