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“I use the term miraculous when I think of all the effort and entities involved [to meet the project’s timeframe].”—TIM CONNELL, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
which are 4-in. thick, tapering to 1 in. The complex casting requires 24 cores per part. “The diffuser is not the easi-
est casting to make because of the curvature of the vanes,” Lenhart said. “Section size variations create issues with solidification. We ran a solidification model on this casting to prove out the tooling design.” Cast in a 20 x 20 x 15-ft. pit in nobake sand, each diff user required 74,000 lbs. of 60-40-18 ductile iron to be poured. T e cores for each casting required four days to make, the sand mold assembly required an additional four days, and 10 days of cooling were required after the casting was poured. T e fi nal diff user casting was delivered in the fall of 2010. “T is project has been good for us
on a number of levels,” said Angela Dine Molaskey, St. Marys president and CEO. “It defi nitely increases the intensity of your teamwork when you are part of something that could save lives and an entire city.” By July 2011, the Army Corps of Engineers had met its goal of install- ing eight of the 11 pumps, enough to provide solid protection during hurricane season. Today, all 11 pumps have been installed. “It’s all operational, what’s left is testing and troubleshooting,” he said. T e tests include process verifi cation tests, safety tests and long-term tests, where the facility will run the pumps for 24 hours continuously to prove their reliability. “We’re basically shaking it out, if you will,” Connell said.
ONLINE RESOURCE
To watch a video about the construction of the West Closure Complex pumping station, visit
www.metalcastingdesign.com.
May/Jun 2012 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 41
Bay Cast produced this 11,500-lb. pump housing in stainless steel.
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