What is a disadvantage of sand casting?

Sand casting is a process commonly used to create metal parts, but it does come with certain disadvantages. One significant drawback is the poor surface finish that often results from the sand mold. The texture of the sand can leave rough surfaces on the cast parts, leading to a finish that may not meet the required standards for some applications. To address this issue, additional machining processes might be necessary to achieve a smoother finish, which can increase production time and costs.

In contrast, while sand casting does have limitations in production scale, particularly for very intricate designs that might benefit from higher precision techniques, it is not strictly limited to small scale production. Various molds and techniques allow for a wide range of sizes. Similarly, while there can be material wastage associated with sand casting, it is not necessarily as high compared to other methods. The molds are made from a less expensive material compared to methods that use complex, expensive molds. As such, identifying poor surface finish as a disadvantage underscores the importance of knowing the implications of surface quality in product design and manufacturing.