How much does an investment cast part cost?

For investment casting, Boothroyd Dewhurst, publisher of the DFMA software, publishes costs per part rather than times: $2 to $6 for the ceramic shell, $3 to $8 for pouring and breakout, $2 to $30 for cutoff and finishing depending on the level, and $2 to $8 per core (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026). The metal counted includes the gates and runners, typically 15 to 25% of the tree weight (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026). A wax pattern die costs from $2,000 for a simple part to over $30,000 for a complex one (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026), and a US foundry quotes $2,000 to more than $20,000 (source: Eagle Group, December 2019). RFQdecoder adds these items up per part, converts them to euros at the day’s ECB rate and leaves the die to be declared as tooling.

The nine steps of lost-wax casting

Boothroyd Dewhurst describes investment casting as a nine-stage process that turns a 3D CAD model into a near-net-shape precision casting (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026). RFQdecoder follows these steps:

Wax pattern: wax is injected into a die that replicates the part (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Tree: the patterns are heat-welded to a central wax tree with its runners and pouring cone; tightly packed trees reduce cost per casting, oversized trees waste metal (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Ceramic shell: the tree is dipped 6 to 9 times in ceramic slurry, each coat dusted with dry ceramic powder (stucco) and dried for 4 to 24 hours; more coats give a stronger shell but cost more labor and material (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Dewaxing: the shell is exposed to heat or pressurized steam in an autoclave; DFMA states that this stage typically takes 12 to 48 hours depending on part thickness and furnace capacity (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Burnout: firing at up to 1,200 °C burns away residual wax and sinters the ceramic (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Pouring: the metal is poured into the hot mold, preheated to 900 to 1,000 °C, which makes thin walls possible (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Breakout: the shell is removed with vibrating hammers and sandblasting; soluble cores are dissolved and ceramic cores removed in a caustic bath (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Cutoff: the parts are separated from the tree, most often with abrasive saws (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Finishing: gate grinding, deburring, surface finishing and, on the surfaces the drawing calls for, secondary machining (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).

French sources describe the same sequence. CTIF, the French foundry technical centre, states that close to ten successive coats are needed in total, for a shell generally 7 to 15 mm thick (source: CTIF, February 2022). Lajoinie Fonderie, a French precision foundry, builds the shell in successive layers of refractory binder, then dewaxes and fires the tree in a furnace at 1,000 °C (source: Lajoinie Fonderie, January 2021).

Drying between coats weighs on the cost of the shell. According to a Hitchiner Manufacturing study published by the Investment Casting Institute, excessive dry times may severely limit the output of the shell room, while under-drying may lead to dewax cracking or metal leakage at pouring (source: Hitchiner Manufacturing, October 2018).

How RFQdecoder calculates the price

The tool’s main source is the Boothroyd Dewhurst cost estimating guide. It does not publish times per step but a cost per part for each group of steps, and RFQdecoder adds these costs up:

Ceramic shell: $2 to $6 per casting depending on size and coat count; this covers slurry, stucco and labor for the 6 to 9 dips, drying included (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Pouring and breakout: $3 to $8 per casting depending on alloy and size (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Cutoff and finishing, depending on the level: simple cutoff $2 to $4, light finishing $5 to $10, with secondary machining $10 to $30 (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
Cores, for internal passages: $2 to $8 per core depending on complexity (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).

Material is the part mass plus the metal in the gates and runners, typically 15 to 25% of the tree weight (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026). This metal is priced from the site’s material table. In the example published by DFMA, a 1.8 lb 316L stainless pump impeller counts 2.25 lb of metal: the 0.45 lb of gating is 20% of the 2.25 lb (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).

Conversion: costs published in dollars are converted to euros at the day’s ECB reference rate; on 2 October 2026, €1 was worth $1.1225 (source: ECB, October 2026).

Approximations, stated on the quote:

these per-part costs apply to parts of ordinary size: the source states that they vary with size (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026);
they include the source’s US labor; DFMA points out that actual costs depend among other things on regional labor rates (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026);
when the drawing does not specify the finish, the tool assumes light finishing and the quote says so.

The wax pattern die is not part of the price per part: it is declared as tooling. DFMA does amortize it in its formula, part cost = tooling ÷ volume + alloy + shell + pour/breakout + finishing (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026); its pump impeller example, at 5,000 parts a year, comes to $29.28 per part, of which $2.40 is the die (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).

Worked example

Assumptions (chosen for illustration, not taken from a source): a 0.51 kg part in 316L stainless steel, no core, finish not specified on the drawing; metal at €8.00/kg (the tool takes the price from its material table); a wax die quoted at €4,000 by the foundry; orders of 100, 1,000 and 10,000 parts. ECB rate of 2 October 2026: €1 = $1.1225 (source: ECB, October 2026).

Published values used: gates and runners at 15 to 25% of tree weight, shell $2 to $6, pouring and breakout $3 to $8, light finishing $5 to $10 per part (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).

Metal per part: if the gates make up 15 to 25% of the tree, the part makes up 85 to 75%. 0.51 ÷ 0.85 = 0.60 kg; 0.51 ÷ 0.75 = 0.68 kg, i.e. 0.09 to 0.17 kg of gates and runners.
Material: 0.60 × 8.00 = €4.80; 0.68 × 8.00 = €5.44.
Foundry steps, in dollars: finish not specified, so light finishing, as the quote states. 2 + 3 + 5 = $10; 6 + 8 + 10 = $24.
Conversion: 10 ÷ 1.1225 = €8.91; 24 ÷ 1.1225 = €21.38.
Price per part, die excluded: 4.80 + 8.91 = €13.71; 5.44 + 21.38 = €26.82. Since the published costs are per part, this amount is the same for 100 or for 10,000 parts.
Wax die, declared as tooling: €4,000 is 4,000 × 1.1225 = $4,490, within the $2,000 to $5,000 range published for simple geometry (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026). Spread over the order: 4,000 ÷ 100 = €40.00 per part, giving €53.71 to €66.82; 4,000 ÷ 1,000 = €4.00, giving €17.71 to €30.82; 4,000 ÷ 10,000 = €0.40, giving €14.11 to €27.22.
Variants: one core adds $2 to $8, i.e. €1.78 to €7.13 (€15.49 to €33.95 per part); a simple cutoff at $2 to $4 gives $7 to $18 of foundry steps, i.e. €6.24 to €16.04 (€11.04 to €21.48 per part); secondary machining at $10 to $30 gives $15 to $44, i.e. €13.36 to €39.20 (€18.16 to €44.64 per part).

At 100 parts, the die accounts for €40.00 of a price of €53.71 to €66.82, more than everything else combined; at 10,000 parts, it accounts for only €0.40. The finish moves the price more than the material does: from simple cutoff to secondary machining, the top of the range goes from €21.48 to €44.64.

What is not included

The price per part described above covers the nine steps, the cores and the metal. The following items are not part of it and should be requested from the foundry:

The wax pattern die, declared as tooling. DFMA publishes $2,000 to $5,000 for simple geometry, $5,000 to $15,000 for moderate geometry, and $15,000 to over $30,000 for complex parts or multi-cavity dies; amortized over 100 parts a year it adds $20 to $300 per part, over 10,000 parts a year $0.20 to $3 (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026). Eagle Group quotes $2,000 to more than $20,000 (source: Eagle Group, December 2019); RMC Casting Foundry, a Chinese foundry, states that most investment casting tooling costs $500 to $10,000 (source: RMC Casting Foundry, January 2025).
3D printed patterns, when they replace the die. CTIF notes that wax injection into metal dies is increasingly being replaced by additive manufacturing of wax patterns from a digital file (source: CTIF, February 2022); Lajoinie Fonderie uses this route whenever it is more cost-effective than permanent metal tooling (source: Lajoinie Fonderie, January 2021).
Operations after finishing: Lajoinie Fonderie lists sizing operations for visual, dimensional and geometric conformity, final inspections and non-destructive testing, and offers heat treatments to guarantee mechanical properties (source: Lajoinie Fonderie, January 2021). These operations are not among the nine steps costed here.

What to check on a quote

The die: price, ownership, service life. At Eagle Group, the die stays at the foundry during production but in most cases belongs to the customer, and wax tooling can easily exceed 250,000 injections (source: Eagle Group, December 2019). Check whether the die is invoiced separately or spread into the price per part, and who owns it.
The metal counted per part. DFMA counts gates and runners at 15 to 25% of the tree weight (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026). RMC cites a design ratio often used of 3 to 1: for every 1 lb of casting, 3 lb to the tree, depending on the necessary yield and the size of the component (source: RMC Casting Foundry, January 2025). Ask the foundry for the metal weight charged per part.
The number of parts per tree. Tightly packed trees maximize the number of castings but can increase breakout labor and scrap; DFMA puts the optimal density at 3 to 8 parts per tree depending on size (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
The number of coats. Going from 6 to 9 coats adds $1 to $2 per casting in labor and material; fine-detail parts need more coats (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
The finishing level. From simple cutoff at $2 to $4 to secondary machining at $10 to $30, the gap is wide (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026). When no finish is specified, RFQdecoder assumes light finishing and says so on the quote: check that the foundry is pricing the same level.
Yield. According to DFMA, 85 to 95% good parts is a typical yield, and poor tooling can drop it to 70% (source: Boothroyd Dewhurst, March 2026).
The price per kilo. In the example above, €13.71 to €26.82 for 0.51 kg comes to €26.88 to €52.59 per kilo, die excluded. As an order of magnitude, RMC Casting Foundry published in June 2021 ex-works (EXW) prices of $9.21 to $10.15 per kilo for AISI 316 stainless investment castings depending on weight and complexity (source: RMC Casting Foundry, June 2021), i.e. €8.20 to €9.04 at the ECB rate of 2 October 2026 (source: ECB, October 2026). The RFQdecoder quote points out that DFMA costs include the source’s US labor.

Sources

Boothroyd Dewhurst, « Investment Casting Cost Estimating: A Process-Based Guide », 18 March 2026.
AJ Menefee, « Tooling for Investment Casting », 18 December 2019.
CTIF, « Le procédé de fonderie cire perdue », 21 February 2022.
Michael Brienza, « Intercoat Drying and Shell Properties », 1 October 2018.
Lajoinie Fonderie, « Fonderie de précision à la cire perdue », 29 January 2021.
RMC Casting Foundry, « FAQs About Investment Casting », 9 January 2025.
RMC Casting Foundry, « Estimation of Steel Casting Prices Per Pound, KG and Ton », 8 June 2021.
Banque centrale européenne, « Euro exchange rates charts », 2 October 2026.

Frequently asked questions