URETHANE CASTING
Description: Cast polyurethanes are a diverse and versatile group of materials known for abrasion and chemical resistance, stability in water, ease of processing and relatively low cost. Cast polyurethanes are in practically every industry and are relatively inexpensive and can be made from a variety of materials.
- Our urethane caster uses thermoset polyurethanes ranging from 0 Shore A to
75 Shore D, in any color for high and low volumes.
INVESTMENT CASTING
Description: Investment castings are often used to manufacture parts for the aerospace, military and automotive industries. This casting process may achieve a highly precise component, but is usually more expensive than other comparable casting techniques, and is typically only cost efficient when sand or plaster castings cannot be used. However, the expense can sometimes be compensated for with reduced machining and tooling costs due to the investment castings’ quality surface results.
- Our investment caster can create a casting weighing a few ounces up to 20 lbs in aluminum or stainless steel materials.
SAND CASTING
Description: Sand casting typically relies on synthetic or naturally-bonded sand. Casting sand consists of finely ground, spherical grains that can be tightly packed together into a smooth molded surface. This process has relatively inexpensive production costs, especially in low volume runs; the ability to fabricate large components and a capacity to cast both ferrous and non-ferrous materials.
- Our sand caster, in any material except exotics, can cast from a few ounces up to 100+ lbs.
DIE CASTING
Description: Die casting is a method of molding materials under high pressure and usually involves non-ferrous metals and alloys, such as zinc, tin, copper and aluminum. Molten metal is injected into a die under high pressure, until the component solidifies. This casting process is rapid and the component is taken out of the die with any scrap material being removed. Die casting a part provides close tolerances, high dimensional consistency, and a reduced need for post-casting machining. Despite low cost piece prices, die casting has relatively high tool costs, which makes it more cost efficient for high volume runs.
- Our die caster runs aluminum and zinc materials, from a few ounces up to a 5 lbs. part.
CENTRIFUGAL CASTING
Description: Centrifugal casting, sometimes called rotocasting, is a metal casting process that uses extremely high centrifugal force (“G” Force) to molten metal to form cylindrical parts. This differs from most metal casting processes, which use gravity or pressure to fill the mold. Centrifugal casting is used to produce axi-symmetric parts, such as cylinders or disks, which are typically hollow. Due to the high centrifugal forces, these parts have a very fine grain on the outer surface and possess mechanical properties approximately 30% greater than parts formed with static casting methods. This casting method is performed in wide variety of industries, including aerospace, industrial, marine, and power transmission. Typical parts include bearings, bushings, coils, cylinder liners, nozzles, pipes/tubes, pressure vessels, pulleys, rings, and wheels.
- Our centrifugal caster produces parts in aluminum, stainless, copper and nickel alloys, as well as custom blend any alloy to meet the customer needs and to tighter tolerances than industry standards.
FORGING
Description: Forging is a manufacturing process involved in shaping metal using localized compressive force. The force is typically delivered with a power hammer or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it is performed: cold forging vs. warm/hot forging. Forged parts are used wherever a component requires high strength but the forged component will usually require additional machining to finish the part.
- Our forger produces forged parts ranging in size from a few ounces up to 10 lbs. in common materials.
POWDER METAL / SINTERED METAL
Description: Powder metallurgy, or PM, is a process for forming metal parts by heating compacted metal powders to just below their melting points. This process has advantages over other metal forming technologies such as forging and metal casting in shape complexity and near-net-shape dimensional control. This process is more cost efficient for high volume runs and is a recognized green technology.
