By Evan Miller, Design Engineer — Kimura Foundry America

At Kimura Foundry America, we provide both casting and machining in-house, which gives our engineers flexibility when designing a casting system that meets customer requirements. Knowing that post-casting machining will be handled by VIP Tooling allows our team to optimize metal flow and solidification while still minimizing the amount of machining stock added—which helps control cost and cycle time.

Many customers approach us with a finished (machined) part model, often provided as a STEP (.step) file. While this is a good starting point, one of the most effective ways to reduce lead time is to provide a casting model upfront (also commonly shared as a STEP file). A casting model helps our engineers move faster by reducing early back-and-forth and allowing manufacturability decisions to happen sooner.

As a general guideline, we recommend:

• 5 mm of stock added to all machined faces
• 5 mm added to the diameter of machined hole features

This approach gives our team the flexibility to optimize the casting design while ensuring sufficient material for machining—without adding unnecessary stock that can increase cost.

If creating a casting model is unfamiliar territory, or if you don’t have the ability to modify the file, our engineering team is happy to assist. Early collaboration often leads to shorter timelines, fewer revisions, and a smoother path from design to finished part.