Excerpt from the May 2020 Issue of Modern Casting
This year’s annual AFS Casting Competition continues with 2 more casting category winners:
- Best Casting Conversion for Waupaca Foundry Inc.'s rear suspension trailing arm
- Outstanding Achievement from O'Fallon Casting for their aluminum pump housing
Best Casting Conversion
Rear suspension trailing arm
Waupaca Foundry Inc. (Waupaca, Wisconsin)
Material: Ductile Iron
Process: Green sand vertically-parted molding
Weight: 25.69 lbs.
Dimensions: 21.5 x 8.5 in.
Application: Turf care. Used on zero-turn commercial lawn mower
Customer: Bad Boy Mowers
This conversion from an eight-piece steel weldment to a single ductile iron casting improved the quality and durability of the rear suspension trailing arm on a commercial lawn mower, which previously had been prone to bend and twist upon impact.
While the original weldment never reached production due to high failure rates, this collaboration between Bad Boy Mower's Tier 1 Diamond Precision and Waupaca Foundry has had zero warranty claims since launching in December 2018.
Outstanding Achievement
Powercast Manufacturing Inc. (St.-Eustache, Quebec, Canada)
Material: A357 aluminum
Process: Permanent mold
Weight: 4 lbs.
Dimensions: 22 x 15 x 7 in.
Application: Outdoor recreation. Front bumper for a snowmobile
Customer: BRP (Ski-Doo)
This casting is a premium product, an upgrade to the welded tubing bumper that comes standard on the Ski-Doo snowmobile.
Powercasting Manufacturing, the only foundry to accept the challenge to cast this component, had to tackle many issues in order to create a successful part: designing a cast bumper that would add a premium look while performing well and safely, building a foundry tool for the awkward shape, heat treating a part with such a shape without warping it, and handling complicated machining. Each set of drilled holes has a different reference point, and the size of the part makes it difficult to fit into most CNC machining centers.
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