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Bring your design to life with our expertise, innovation and advanced capabilities
Grainger & Worrall is a leader in rapid prototyping for sand cast and machined parts.
As technical leaders, we are able to help you realise the benefits of sand casting. Faster lead times, reduced costs, plus greater flexibility.
We can adapt our services to suit your needs. If you already have a frozen design specification but need a trusted partner to make it, take a look at our rapid prototyping solution. If you’re looking to mimic production parts, we can engineer prototype parts to reflect a finished product, particularly useful for low-volume aluminium casting, where agility and accuracy are essential.
Typically, an accelerated turnaround (depending on complexity and volumes). We will agree on a quantity of “Fit for Function” parts to be delivered within an aggressive timescale.
Delivery follows the Grainger & Worrall process of simulation, engineering, tooling, casting, machining and validation. Customer provides a frozen design, including cast and machining 3D data and 2D machining drawings.
In addition to prototyping solutions, Grainger & Worrall work with you to develop the design for manufacture, optimising for the casting process.
Typically, additional design time is added to the lead times. Our engineering team develops solutions to meet your specifications, such as defined material property tolerances, specific alloy compositions and tightly controlled dimensional accuracy.
We use a high-fidelity prototype casting process that delivers parts identical to final production in material grade, dimensional tolerances, surface finish and mechanical properties.
We can validate designs, assess functional performance under real-world conditions and optimise components to ensure they meet all specifications before moving into full-scale production.
Our team accelerates prototyping and shortens time-to-part delivery with frozen design, enabling clients to progress programmes more quickly.
Rapid prototyping is an essential stage in modern product development. It allows engineers to validate designs, test functional performance and optimise material and mechanical properties before moving into full-scale production.
Using CAD (computer-aided design) and advanced manufacturing methods such as aluminium sand casting and 3D printing, rapid prototyping enables the fast creation of physical parts. It supports everything from early proof of concept to Make Like Production (MLP)—prototypes that closely replicate final parts in geometry and performance.
Aluminium sand casting is a flexible and cost-effective solution for rapid prototyping. It allows for fast lead times and supports a wide range of alloy options. This makes it ideal for applications where materials need to simulate final production castings or meet demanding performance testing requirements.
At Grainger & Worrall, we use digital sand printing and precision core design techniques to create high-integrity prototype castings quickly, enabling accelerated testing and development.
Make Like Production is a high-fidelity level of prototype casting. It produces parts that match final production in terms of material grade, dimensional tolerances, surface finish and mechanical properties.
This approach gives OEMs and design engineers the ability to validate cast components under real-world conditions before committing to high-pressure die casting or investment tooling, helping to reduce cost and risk later in the programme.
While MLP may involve longer lead times, it delivers invaluable data and confidence ahead of full-scale launch.
Fit for Purpose prototyping refers to producing castings that demonstrate function and basic form, but do not match the accuracy or mechanical performance of production parts. It’s ideal for early concept testing, feasibility studies and basic validation.
This approach typically offers faster turnaround times and supports the design process by allowing engineers to iterate quickly and efficiently.
One of the benefits of rapid prototyping is the ability to refine and evolve a component’s design throughout the development cycle. However, design changes often extend lead times.
A frozen design refers to a finalised component model, provided by the customer, with no further modifications required.
This enables our team to accelerate the prototyping process and reduce time-to-part delivery, supporting faster programme progress.
Aluminium is a highly versatile metal used extensively in lightweight structural castings. It can be alloyed with other elements to meet specific performance and durability targets and is well-suited to both functional prototyping and production-grade components.
At Grainger & Worrall, our advanced heat treatment processes and post-processing techniques ensure that prototype aluminium castings meet stringent industry specifications, whether for aerospace, automotive, or green energy applications.
If you need to discuss anything else, get in touch with us today. We’re happy to talk through your project and how a rapid prototyping or Make Like Production approach could help reduce lead times.
