Design and Engineering

Our design and engineering team supports your upfront design for manufacture with unrivalled experience gained from successfully delivering high-integrity components for safety critical, high-performance applications in the automotive, motorsport, aerospace, defence and energy sectors. We continually invest in research and development—both internally and through joint technical partnerships—to apply the latest innovations in casting and material technologies.

Design and engineering at Finecast

Design & Engineering Consultancy

At Finecast, our design and engineering consultancy provides specialist expertise in metallic product design and development, manufacturing feasibility, and advanced simulation analysis. With a focus on precision engineering and cutting-edge technology, our team optimises designs for manufacturability, ensures material integrity, and develops tailored production strategies—delivering complex, high-integrity components for high-performance and mission-critical applications.

Our consultancy services include:

  • Metallic Product Design – Developing innovative designs for cast and machined from solid products in both non-ferrous and ferrous materials, ensuring optimal functionality and manufacturability.
  • Manufacturing Route Feasibility Analysis – Identifying the most efficient and cost-effective manufacturing methods to maximise quality and reduce lead times.
  • Virtual Casting Simulation & Finite Stress Analysis – Utilising advanced simulation tools to predict product performance, enhance structural integrity, mould fill and solidification, mechanical properties predictions and residual stress predictions for aluminium, steel, and iron castings.
  • Metallurgical Analysis & Material Selection – Conducting thorough material evaluations to select optimal alloys and compositions for specific performance and durability requirements.
  • Tooling & Fixture Design – Designing specialised tooling and fixtures, including foundry tooling, machining fixtures, dimensional validation datum fixtures, heat treatment fixtures, and product assembly fixtures, to enhance manufacturing precision.
  • Advanced CAM Programming – Using Delcam PowerMill for offline 3D CAM programming, developing optimal toolpaths for 5-axis CNC machining to ensure high-precision and efficiency.
  • Optimal Manufacturing Route Options – Determining the best production approach, whether through pattern tooling, tool-less 3D printed moulds, or machining from solid, tailored to project specifications.
  • Complete Project Management – Managing projects from concept through to fully machined and assembled products, ensuring seamless integration and precision execution.
  • Production & Scalability – Delivering solutions for rapid prototyping, low-volume manufacturing, and full-scale production, adapting to evolving project requirements.

With a proven track record in engineering excellence, Finecast bridges the gap between concept and production, ensuring that every component is engineered for performance, manufacturability, and efficiency. Explore our engineering capabilities below to see how our expertise can drive your next project forward.

Speak to an Expert

Casting Design

Finecast provides a comprehensive 3D CAD modelling and casting design service, ensuring every casting is fully optimised for performance, manufacturability, and efficiency. By applying precision engineering principles, we develop castings that meet customer specifications, reduce material waste, and enhance structural integrity. Our expertise in casting geometry, material flow, and process optimisation enables us to deliver high-integrity castings that achieve both technical excellence and cost efficiency.

  • Optimised 3D CAD Modelling – Starting with the customer’s product model, we generate a full 3D CAD dataset tailored to finished machined casting requirements. The raw casting model is refined by incorporating machining allowances, radii, draft angles, and shrinkage compensation, ensuring a seamless transition from casting to final machining.
  • Structural & Process Optimisation – Through advanced geometric and metallurgical analysis, we refine wall thicknesses, fillet transitions, and load-bearing areas to improve cast integrity, weight reduction, and mechanical strength. This approach ensures the final casting meets performance-critical requirements while minimising defects.
  • Manufacturability & Production Readiness – We assess casting feasibility, core complexity, and material utilisation to enhance production efficiency and repeatability. By optimising the raw casting design, we enable seamless mould integration, setting the foundation for a high-precision mould assembly process.

By combining cutting-edge casting design methodologies with advanced mould engineering, Finecast ensures that every casting is designed for structural integrity, cost efficiency, and seamless manufacturability. This optimised casting model serves as the basis for our 3D Mould Assembly Design, ensuring a fully integrated approach from design to production.

Speak to an expert

Advanced MAGMASOFT Virtual Casting Simulation

In-house application of the most advanced foundry casting simulation software MAGMASOFT, combined with the practical knowledge acquired over years of producing some of the most technically challenging component designs, supports fully your casting feasibility process even before prototype manufacture.

Utilising MAGMASOFT reduces project development lead times as multiple virtual casting design simulations can be performed together, eliminating the need for lengthy foundry validation trials. Our core aim is to maximise the final cast product design whilst ensuring the method is qualified right first time.

Results from our MAGMA simulation offer more than just a tool for analysing solidification, mould filling and defect identification. Simulation results are a powerful tool to support customers finite analysis, accurately predicting residual stresses through the cast component in both the as cast and heat-treated condition.

Our 32Core MAGMA capabilities are the most advanced within the European foundry industry; Simulations can be undertaken in the following areas;

 

  • Magma Non-Ferrous: Mould fill and solidification and mechanical properties predictions for aluminium castings.
  • MAGMA Steel: Defect and mechanical properties predictions for steel castings.
  • Magma Iron: Defect and mechanical properties predictions for iron castings.
  • Magma Stress & Heat-treatment: Residual Stress predictions in the as cast and heat-treated condition.
  • MAGMA Die Casting: Investment to MAGMA Die allows us to look beyond the sand cast process supporting validation of LPHC & HPDC designs.
Speak to an expert

3D Mould Assembly Design

At Finecast, our mould assembly package design process ensures precision, efficiency, and repeatability in sand casting production. Using a fully validated 3D casting model, we develop an optimised mould assembly package, incorporating precise split lines, core layouts, and clearances to guarantee dimensional accuracy and consistency.

Our high-precision mould assembly process includes:

  • Optimised Mould Design – Based on validated 3D casting data, ensuring accurate core positioning, repeatable assembly, and reduced process variability.
  • Advanced Core Consolidation – Utilises 3D sand printing technology to merge multiple intricate cores into a single, unified structure, minimising complexity and assembly errors.
  • Enhanced Efficiency & Accuracy – Reduces the number of individual cores, improving alignment, dimensional stability, and overall casting quality.
  • Shortened Production Times – Streamlines the assembly process, leading to faster turnaround times and reduced manufacturing costs.
  • Cost-Effective & Scalable Manufacturing – Supports highly complex cast components, ensuring repeatability and quality in both prototyping and full-scale production.

By integrating advanced mould assembly design principles, Finecast enhances casting precision, reduces waste, and improves overall production efficiency, supporting the manufacture of high-performance, mission-critical components.

Speak to an expert
Pattern Tooling at Finecast

Tooling & Fixtures

Finecast designs and manufactures precision tooling and fixtures to support the entire manufacturing of precision machined-finished and assembled components. With full in-house production of foundry tooling, we maintain strict control over quality, lead times, and design flexibility, enabling us to rapidly respond to customer modifications during development. Our fully integrated approach also guarantees the strictest confidentiality, protecting sensitive customer designs throughout the manufacturing process.

Our tooling and fixture capabilities include:

  • Foundry Tooling – High-quality pattern tooling and core boxes engineered for precision sand casting, optimising dimensional accuracy and repeatability in non-ferrous and ferrous alloys. Our in-house pattern-making facility enables high-speed, multi-axis milling of close-tolerance resin tooling. With 24-hour machining operations, we can rapidly produce prototype and small-batch foundry tooling, as well as full-scale production tooling for volumes up to 5,000 units.
  • Casting Validation Fixtures – Custom fixtures designed to verify dimensional accuracy and structural integrity of castings before further processing, ensuring compliance with exacting specifications.
  • Machining Tooling & Fixtures – Specialised machining jigs, holding fixtures, and datum setups tailored for 5-axis CNC machining, enhancing precision, stability, and repeatability throughout the machining process.
  • Assembly & Fitting Tooling/Fixtures – Precision-engineered fixtures for product assembly, alignment, and fitting, ensuring accurate positioning, seamless integration, and efficient final build processes.

Finecast combines precision tooling and fixture design with expertise in foundry tooling, casting validation, machining, and assembly to deliver fully optimised manufacturing solutions. With comprehensive in-house capabilities, 24-hour machining operations, and a commitment to precision engineering, we ensure exceptional quality control, efficiency, and scalability at every stage—from prototype development to full-scale production and final assembly.

Speak to an expert

On-site Additive Manufacturing 3D Sand Printing

Finecast’s on-site investment in Voxeljet additive manufacturing technology enables the rapid, tool-less production of close-tolerance sand moulds directly from customer CAD data—eliminating the need for traditional foundry pattern tooling and significantly reducing lead times and cost.

  • Rapid Mould Printing – Using large-format Voxeljet 3D sand printers, we can produce complete mould packages up to 4,000 x 2,000 x 1,000 mm within hours of receiving digital data. This allows for immediate casting without the delay of tooling manufacture.
  • Complex Shapes with Ease – 3D sand printing allows for the creation of undercuts, enclosed cores, and intricate internal features that would be difficult or impossible to achieve using conventional tooling. This capability opens up new possibilities in design freedom and functional integration.
  • Fully Qualified Prototypes – We deliver dimensionally and metallurgically qualified castings in as little as 2 weeks, supporting rapid prototype builds with production-grade results—ideal for design validation, performance testing, and critical programme deadlines.
  • Design Flexibility & Iteration – Our internal tool-less capability offers unmatched flexibility to trial multiple design iterations before committing to tooling, allowing customers to optimise performance, reduce risk, and compress development schedules.
  • Medium Volume Tool-less Production – The large build volume supports not only prototyping but also medium batch production, making it a cost-effective solution for short-run and pre-production casting programmes.

By integrating additive sand printing into our core foundry operations, Finecast offers a flexible, fast-response manufacturing route—ideal for high-complexity parts, compressed lead times, and evolving programme demands.

Speak to an expert

Advanced Offline CAM Programming

Finecast offers advanced offline CAM programming to support the precision machining of both cast and machine-from-solid components. Using industry-leading software and multi-axis strategies, we ensure every component is accurately machined to specification, maximising efficiency, consistency, and quality.

  • Delcam PowerMill Programming – We use Delcam PowerMill to develop high-performance 3D toolpaths for complex geometries, tailored for 5-axis CNC machining. This enables precise control over surface finish, dimensional accuracy, and cycle time optimisation.
  • Cast & Solid Component Machining – Our CAM programming supports both cast components and machined-from-solid parts, allowing for efficient material removal strategies, custom fixturing setups, and accurate machining of intricate features.
  • Offline Simulation & Collision Avoidance – All toolpaths are simulated and verified offline to identify potential collisions, over-travel, or tolerance deviations—ensuring safe, reliable, and right-first-time machining.
  • Integration with Design & Engineering – CAM programming is seamlessly integrated with our design, casting, and fixture development processes, ensuring continuity from digital model through to final machined component.

Through our advanced CAM programming capability, Finecast ensures tight tolerances, repeatability, and cost-effective machining, supporting high-performance components across prototype, low-volume, and full-scale production.

Speak to an expert