Die Casting News

Day 2 of the Die Casting Congress events

We are looking forward to seeing you at the 2019 Die Casting Congress & Tabletop held October 1-3, 2019, at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio. This event will include three days of Congress sessions. 

Ryan Canfield, Angela Cox and the rest of Hill and Griffith's sales team are ready to answer your die casting questions.

NADCA shares some common facts about the Die Casting Industry

Die casting is a versatile process for producing engineered metal parts by forcing molten metal under high pressure into reusable steel molds. These molds, called dies, can be designed to produce complex shapes with a high degree of accuracy and repeatability. Parts can be sharply defined, with smooth or textured surfaces, and are suitable for a wide variety of attractive and serviceable finishes.

Die castings are among the highest volume, mass-produced items manufactured by the metalworking industry, and they can be found in thousands of consumer, commercial and industrial products. Die cast parts are important components of products ranging from automobiles to toys. Parts can be as simple as a sink faucet or as complex as a connector housing.

NADCA annual Die Casting Awards will be announced at the NADCA Die Casting Congress & Tabletop October 1-3

We are looking forward to seeing some of the most complex and high quality die castings the industry has to offer at the NADCA's Die Casting Congress & Tabletop October 1-3 in Cleveland, OH. Over the past 45 years, NADCA showcased some of the best and most talented die casting companies who have contributed to the advancement of the die casting industry. The best castings involve not only the die casting product but the design and engineering. 

NADCA 2018 Zinc Die Casting Decorative Finish Winner - Wilkast

NADCA offers its book outlining the specifics of die casting release agents and their application

This is a comprehensive textbook for die casting engineers. This book describes the purposes of die release agents and their characteristics. The purposes addressed include: protecting the tooling; releasing the casting; thermal control of tooling; and, lubrication of moving die components. Characteristics such as wettability and the Leidenfrost Effect are covered. Next, dilution, application strategies and common application hardware is presented. This document is an informative and practical guide for die casting practitioners and those responsible for selecting die release agents, solving die casting quality problems, and reducing costs and cycle time.

Excerpt from the article in Global Casting magazine's September 2018 issue

The procedure of identifying, diagnosing and minimizing or eliminating crucial casting defects is important for a foundry to run in a low-cost, and high-efficiency mode. It can disprove incorrect conventional wisdom and show that unexpected methods are actually the best way to move forward. To do this, there are three keys to remember:

1. Focus on identifying a casting defect on the basis of its appearance.

2. Be aware of the interactive nature of foundry processes and variables.

3. Use rigorous experimental design methods to study complex causes of defects.

NADCA offers its book outlining the causes of die casting defects and how to prevent them

This is a comprehensive textbook for die casting engineers. This revised version of the defects causes and solutions book has been completely reviewed and revised by world renowned die cast experts William G. Walkington and Dr. Morris Murray. The book includes much more detail on the cures needed to reduce and/or eliminate the defects that plague all die casters. Dr. Murray discusses each defect, in depth, and provides thoughtful solutions to try to help mitigate the problems.

Article for North America Die Casting Association (NADCA) “Die Cast Engineer Magazine” 2007 by Tim Cowell, Technical Director for The Hill and Griffith Company

Introduction

Early on in the Die Cast Industry, die lubricants were usually a concoction of various compounds that the die caster had available to him.

1. He would create different mixtures and whatever yielded the best results for his specific application was what he used. Although much was learned from this trial and error type of evaluation, this method of die lubricant development was considered more of a “Black Art” than a science. Several decades later, there are some who still believe it. Over the years, die lubricant manufacturers and others have gone to great lengths to develop laboratory methods aimed at correlating a product’s performance in the lab with how it will perform in production, and yet there are still no standardized scientific methods within the industry for evaluating die lubricants. The only true test to determine the functionality of a new die lubricant is by its introduction to the production environment.

The die casting industry depends on the skill of the machine operator for efficient production of high-quality products.

The effective machine operator understands the basic function of the process, the proper care of the die casting machine, die setup, recognition and control of basic casting defects, and the procedures that ensure his/her personal safety.



The North American Die Casting Association has created an eleven part webinar series geared towards educating operators on the do's and don'ts of running a die casting machine. Signing up for all eleven parts of this series will also grant you access to these courses through the NADCA Online Education System, which allows you to view the recordings, pdf's and support material for a full year.

NADCA Video News Update: "Sudden stoppage of casting, because you've got a stuck plunger, but it's a combination of events ... together mean you have a problem."

The material presented in this video are some highlights from NADCA’s online webinar - Basic Approach to Process Control. This webinar covers the traditional methods of controlling the process and what feedback you use to control it. It then expands on this and shows the usefulness of some simple math terms. It allows the company to see how stable their company is in from day-to-day. It then looks at the causes of variation from that stability and how to solve the three most common causes.

Plunger Lubricant for Special Diecasting Foundry Applications

Plunger Lube™ 678 is an oil-based product providing high amounts of graphite for extreme die casting applications where a high viscosity lubricant is desired or required. The Hill and Griffith Company has designed this lubricant for good performance at slow plunger speeds or in situations where prolonged contact with metal is likely to occur.

The carefully and consistently blended Plunger Lube™ 678 provides the necessary lubricating functions for the shot sleeve and tip in severe applications.  The Hill and Griffith Company, to control uniformity and dependability in the product, which is shipped ready to use, formulate the die casting plunger lubricant from base materials.  Plunger Lube™ 678 is both economical and efficient.