Turning Over a New Leaf


State Brass Foundry and Machine was able to bring back a former customer by enhancing the centrifugal casting technology in use at its facility.


Shea Gibbs, Senior Editor


the process has allowed it to regain at least one job it had previously lost to low cost suppliers. JBT Aerotech, also of Salt Lake


S


City, first approached State Brass in the 1970s. The OEM produces, among other things, the ramps airline passen- gers walk across to enter commercial jets—alternately called jetways or


tate Brass Foundry and Ma- chine, Salt Lake City, Utah, has been dabbling in cen- trifugal casting for about 25 years, and its commitment to


airbridges—and it needed two large, round brass castings to brace the column that links them to the airport terminal and allows them to pivot. One of the castings would be used on the upper side of the hydraulic columns, the other on the lower side. At the time, State Brass was a primar-


ily green sand metalcaster that used a horizontal centrifugal casting machine sparingly. The company quoted and won the rotunda job on its green sand line, mostly on the strength of the price it offered. The large cylindrical castings


were poured in CDA 836 brass and weighed 73 lbs. (lower) and 57 lbs. (upper), each with similar dimensions at 34 x 27.5 x 7 in. They weren’t State Brass’s crown jewel, but rather low- yield, porous structures that took a long time to make. After time-consuming mold making and pouring, the cast- ings required a two-hour cool down before shakeout, with shot blast and grinding room cleanup adding another hour per piece. Nevertheless, State Brass continued to make the castings in green sand,


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MODERN CASTING / October 2010


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