Realize and Rockets

What do Realize and rocket engines have in common?

They are both working with Shirley, Indiana company Tech Castings.

Tech Castings – Shirley, IN

Tech Castings manufactures engine parts for rockets!

Realize provides them with stereolithography patterns which they use to cast aerospace engine parts.

Jeff Lantz is the owner/CEO of Tech Castings and we talked with him about the project.

“What’s great about working with Realize is how fast the turn around is in getting the patterns needed for our parts. If we used traditional methods to order these items it would take weeks or months for them to come in, with Realize we send it over and can have it in a few days. That is a huge advantage for us.”

Tech Casting CEO/Owner Jeff Lantz displaying an SLA pattern after a coating of shell material.

Tech Castings and Realize work together in order to create what will become working components for a rocket engine.

We have produced seven unique geometries, and hundreds of SLA patterns for Tech Castings to investment cast into rocket aerospace engine parts.

“When Tech Castings first approached us about supplying SLA patterns for their investment casting foundry, we were excited about the opportunity, but recognized the challenge in producing the high-quality patterns they required and expected.  Working closely with Jeff and his team allowed us to ramp up rapidly, which was critical in meeting the aggressive delivery schedule his customer required.  It has been a great partnership and we’re proud to play a small part in such a neat program.” says Realize President, Todd Reese.

Here are some photos of the process.

A 30lb shell encapsulates an SLA pattern for the engine manifold.

The shell is placed into a furnace where 2000 degrees burns out the SLA pattern.