our services
Gravity Die Foundry
Our production facilities include semi-automatic hydraulic casting machines as well as conventional mechanically operated dies.
These enable us to produce castings weighing from a few grams to 25 Kg and in batch sizes from 100 to 10000.
Sand Foundry
The boxless moulding method is used to produce castings weighing from a few grams to 50Kg.
Our flow line has been designed to allow flexibility of production by minimizing setup time. Consequently production runs of any length can be accommodated easily.
Fettling/Finishing
A well equipped fettling shop ensures runners, risers and excess material are removed efficiently and to required standards. Glass bead and stainless steel shot blasting facilities remove adhering sand and improve surface finish where necessary.
Heat Treatment
Electric and gas heat treatment ovens on-site help enable Quality Castings to offer competitive lead times for heat treated castings. We have ovens calibrated to AMS2750 allowing us to heat treat aluminium alloys to aerospace specifications.
Setting and Straightening
Certain designs of casting are prone to twist and distort during manufacture, particularly on removal from the die or during heat treatment. Quality Castings are equipped to check for this condition and set and straighten, to jigs where appropriate, hence maintaining dimensional accuracy.
Materials
Aluminium Alloys to BS EN 1706:2010
EN AC-42000, EN AC-44100, EN AC-45200
EN AC-45400, EN AC-46600
Aluminium Alloys to BS 1490;1988
LM4, LM6, LM22, LM25, LM4HS (similar to LM27)
(Note: These material specifications have been superceded but we can still supply if required.)
Aluminium Alloys to M.O.D. Aerospace Material Specification
D.T.D. 716, D.T.D. 722, D.T.D 727, D.T.D. 735
(Note: These material specifications have been superceded but we can still supply if required.)
Quality Castings are always prepared to consider casting other gravity die or sandcast aluminium alloys subject to appropriate volume – please contact us to discuss if required.
Foundry Tooling
Our own specialist engineers design all tooling for gravity dies and sand foundry patterns. Manufacture of this tooling is sub-contracted to Die/Patternmakers having the capability to manufacture using both traditional and CAD/CAM methods.
Our engineers oversee this manufacture thereby ensuring tooling is not only produced by specialist Die/Pattern makers but has also had the necessary input of foundry expertise.
These measures ensure that high quality tooling is produced, a measure which provides a firm foundation on which to base process controls.
Customers existing tooling can often be used either in its current condition or after modification, conversion or refurbishment. – Please contact us to discuss. Regular maintenance of gravity die and pattern tooling is undertaken to maximise tooling life and ensure consistent production.
To see some video footage of our Manufacturing process please click the “More Info” button in the Our Services section below or click here.
Example of tooling and casting computer simulation used for development
Example of tooling and casting computer simulation used for development: