The interior of the dynamo was machined on PCM’s five-axis milling machines after being cast as two separate hemispheres.
constitute the bulk of the project. While not outside Bay Cast’s capabili- ties, the project still presented a special challenge. “Tis was unique because there were
so many large components that had to be cast, machined and mechanically fit together like a jigsaw puzzle,” said Max Holman, president and general manager. “While many of our other projects have a large scope of work, none has ever required so many large cast parts to be assembled into a single unit.” Each 100-ton disk was composed of nine separate castings: two cres- cents, a center piece and six interior connectors. When NSCL officials and Bay Cast engineers collaborated on the initial designs, only minor modifica- tions were necessary to improve the cyclotron’s castability. “They provided design drawings,”
Jason Holman said. “It wasn’t overly complicated from a casting geom- etry stand point. The real challenge for the foundry was properly sizing our risers to ensure feeding of these extremely large sections.” For each 55,000-lb. crescent, Bay Cast used a 22-ton direct arc furnace and three induction furnaces to pour more than 75,000 lbs. of 1018 steel into sand molds made from CNC-cut polystyrene patterns. Once cast, the individual components were machined on a five-axis gantry mill and finished machined as an assembly on a 19-foot CNC vertical lathe. “The nice part was having the
machining capabilities,” Holman said. “To be able to keep it all in house, it helped us offer more. And on the customer’s end, it helped with scheduling and delivery.” One half of the cyclotron was de-
livered to MSU in October 2012, with the other half following two months later. While the mammoth project
32 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | Sept/Oct 2013
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