need advice (sourcing manufacturer US/EU) & casting method!

Not knowing the use of the part, ductility might or might not be important. Lots of machine tool, tractor/agricultural, automotive parts are cast iron. If ductility is important, grey rion would not be such a good choice.

Denis

 

Too many unknowns. Particularly material.

Zamak that would be a die casting in those qtys. Expect to amortize around £3-4K in a tool and pay holding cost on the tool.

I have several connections in die casting if you go that route.

If the part is steel then I have no suggestions beyond drop forging or machining from billet.

I use a guy for 5 axis CNC over here but it is aviation spec stuff and his prices may scare you.

 

Indeed. Well the part doesn't necessarily need to be steel I gather then. In considering casting in either brass ot bronze - what finishes can I expect?

With regards to my design - I was hoping for the metal parts to be neutral in colour - greys (light or dark).

Onto the design - in choosing the material, eg; brass/bronze - you mentioned more options. So would I need to request from the manufacture my tolerances for that material? That way - I could apply the minimum radius needed for draft standards?

And lastly - what exact casting process are we discussing? Lost-wax? I am looking to manufacture high volume - what process bets fits my scenario? If I can sort an affordable casting process (and be aware of limitations on my design 'tolerances and such' I will be more than happy to revise my design as needed.

 

cast iron or aluminium. are these more affordable than say brass or bronze?

 

so wait - are you meaning that i could provide a manufacture an injection mould that could be utilized for casting the metal part?

 

this

this is correct - as i have intentionally cropped much of the design for this reason. i may be new to metal casting - but i have been in the design field for almost 2 decades and have learnt to be wary when sharing a design - and have created a many NDAs. nothing personal, of course! it's rather challenging when creating an open discussion on a design without having the forum adhere to an NDA

 

maybe cast iron is the answer? ductility is not a criteria.

 

I'm not going to question your engneering ability, material is the prime consideration here. If bronze will hold up to what you want it to do, great, if an alloy of pot metal will do the same job......

Nobody wants to see your designs but some fundimental information would help. No offence intended

 

Aluminum or any one of a number of zinc alloys can be injection die cast.

 

Sorry that I kept asking you to reveal your part, I wasn't thinking about it that way. Is it alright if I pm you Jon? Thanks Patrick

 

Bear with me a second as I ramble.
When you design things you would normally consider how they might be manufactured and design them to better fit that process. In so doing you would also have a decent idea as to the stress the part will experience (some software can calculate stress in the part based on input). This can also help determine the best materials.

You started off wanting steel and have also asked about aluminum and cast iron.

I would focus on the material first.
Since we can't know how this part will be used you might consider aluminum to test the material and maybe find a local college or High School to see if they would like to take on a short run project (you are still prototyping. Finding someone who machines aluminum will be easier than casting and can be worked on more easily with local shops).

Or if you have a 3D model you could have a company like Protolabs make one for you. just upload it into their system to get low volume cost on many different materials (choose CNC NOT 3D printing metal).
https://www.protolabs.com/about-us/locations/
If you like how the part works in aluminum you can then look to have it cast.

Find your material, then find the process and modify the part to fit the process.

jbc

 

thanks @DavidF. by any chance could you recommend a company that would provide this process - meaning all in one - die cast / debur / shot peen?

that would be most convenient - as i am in iceland. it would prove costly to have the work done elsewhere (as in my case) and then pay additional shipping charges to ship it off for post process too.

 

How strong does this thing really need to be? Judging from the puny screws, it probably doesn't need to hold more than 10lbs of force. As much as I hate to say it, he said high volume or something like that, so this means send it to china if you want 100 gross. Send it to David if you want a handful. 3d print, turn to wax, tree it up and pour in whatever metal you want. The money is in the design, setup, tooling, labor, finishing and shipping, not the metal. The metal is the cheap part unless you want them in gold.

 

@JBC

i should clarify that 2 decades of design equate to architecture, civil engineering, interior design & furniture design.

product design is now my new venture - as in this case. that's why i have so many questions regarding metal casting, materials and such.

i can add that the product will be used in the kitchen. it will not be something that can placed in the dishwasher (or at least not recommended ) the stress applied would be about the pressure you apply to a pizza cutter - if not less.

there are 3 pieces to the design. there is a wood handle - then there is the primary metal (the part we are discussing) that will fit into the wooden handle - and finally a metal cutter (this will require a different thread i think.)

right now i am trying to focus on creating the primary metal.

the design was created using 3d engineering software. i have had the entire assembly 3d printed already and all is fitting well.

so now i need to choose an affordable casting process - as i intend on high volume production (1000, 3000 to 5000).

as shared earlier - i am going to keep the edges sharp and bypass any post-machining. @DavidF suggested die-casting with an zinc/aluminum mix - and then post debur /shot peen. maybe this is the avenue i need to explore.

when i was designing the piece - i was referencing some various metal casts - i am attaching.

 

thanks @Jason

i previous quoted that it will be a kitchen utensil of sorts - so the amount of pressure would be equivalent to that of a pizza cutter - if not less.

with that said - i have a 3d model designed in 3d engineering software - 2d drawings - ready to send to a manufacture. i need to sort how to address sharp edges and such - because i have the ability to revise the design as needed. early on - i had concerns because casts generally require drafts to a proper pour. so i could make all the edges a minimum of .2mm? or do i bypass that as suggested - have a die cast and post debur / shot peen.? this seems the most sensible, right?

 

This is where the skill comes in, the less moving cores in a die tool for die-cast the lower your tool cost and the lower the process time/part time.

I can hook you up with a couple of die-casting contacts in the UK and in India (I'm not affiated with any of them, just had dealings on tools in the past) I'll drop the contacts here when I dig them out.

Zamak isn't going to be great as a kitchen tool in terms of tarnish IMHO, hand washed or otherwise, most of that tends to be stainless which adds a whole other dimension to your project!