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Sand Casting - Make Durable and Complex Shapes
Tue 28 Apr 2009 - 15:39
Sand Casting - Make Durable and Complex Shapes
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Annora_Smith]Annora Smith
Sand Casting
Have you seen the gas pipes in your home, which run from the basement to the rest of the house? The surfaces aren't quite smooth, are they? That's because the pipes were cast using the sand casting method.
Casting Process
This method of casting aluminium, brass, iron or other metal pipes will leave uneven surfaces that are somewhat rough to the touch. When aesthetics is not an issue, casting with sand is the best option. Briefly, molten liquid metal is poured into moulds made by forming cavities, which are a replica of the object desired, in a sand mixture. You then cool the metal in the mould. Once the sand becomes compact and the molten metal has hardened, you then remove the cast by breaking away the sand mould. You can smooth the rough texture on the surface of the cast with a grinding machine or by hammer preening and polishing. As the mould is broken to obtain the cast, you have to make a new mould each time you want to cast an object.
Cast Iron Items
The type of sand and the moulding process generally limits the accuracy of the objects cast. Hence you have to improve the finishing by grinding and polishing. You can cast a large iron bell or a small automotive part using the sand casting method. Iron foundries use an abundance of sand to cast table bases, bars and locks. Iron tables are often installed in shooting ranges where the strength, weight and durability of the table are of primary importance.
Disadvantages of casting with sand
Although this method of casting is still frequently used for metal pipes and other items, there are detriments to its use:
· Machining and finishing costs. As the surface texture of the cast is uneven, you have to incur heavy expense to improve the item through machine grinding and polishing.
· Material usage. You have to make a fresh mould each time you want to cast a new object. This is costly in terms of material used, as many sand moulds have to be made.
· Unusable casts. Due to the nature of the casting process, there is a risk of casting objects that cannot be used. This would result in wastage that increases the production costs.
· High spare parts. Horizontal moulding lines in factories require a high number of spare parts for its movable sections. This is compounded by the low productivity, which enables only 90 - 120 sand moulds to be made per hour for each moulding unit. Nevertheless, horizontal lines are most commonly used compared to vertical moulding lines, which are far more efficient, producing up to 550 sand moulds per hour with a 98% efficiency rate.
Sand casting is simple and popular technique to duplicate metals objects. You can make durable and complex shapes by using sand moulds. You can smooth the texture of the object cast by grinding and polishing to achieve greater accuracy in the dimensions. This method of casting will likely prevail into the future.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Annora_Smith http://EzineArticles.com/?Sand-Casting---Make-Durable-and-Complex-Shapes&id=2271887
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