CAST-ON MACHINING LOCATORS SAVE SCRAP AND MONEY
Locators are simple features to incorporate in a casting and can drastically reduce the cost and effort involved in producing and inspecting complex parts.
STEVE SECCOMBE, SECO MACHINE, CANTON, OHIO; F VASKO POPOVSKI AND RUSTY RAINBOLT, APPLIED PROCESS INC., LIVONIA, MICHIGAN.
or centuries, designers have used the near-net-shape advantage of metal castings to produce complex shapes. It used to be that product design, casting and fi nal machining were either performed by a single person or within one organization. Such vertical
integration from design to completion allowed for a continuous feedback loop which helped designers create components with the entire process in mind. In the modern era, supply chains have grown into worldwide networks that can involve several employees within diff erent companies. As a result, many design- ers no longer have an intimate knowledge of each step of the production process. Suppliers, likewise, may not have a direct line of communication with the people who have designed the component they are building. T is has created an issue that has been further compounded by the adoption and use of 3D CAD modeling in the industry. Designers, via the use of CAD modeling, have the ability to combine several
parts into a single casting in order to reduce assembly time and component costs. However, the infl ux of more complex castings along with a diminishing feedback loop between designers, casting facility and machine shops has forced suppliers to fi nd ways to account for the scrap resulting from a design on which they pro- vided no input. T e primary way suppliers compensate for this scenario is add additional cost to their price in an eff ort to cover any scrap that may be produced during production. T e result is a more expensive component for the end user.
40 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | May/Jun 2016
T e good news is that design- ers and end users can reduce these costs by working together during the design phase, in order to ac- count for all steps of the manufac- turing process.
Fig. 1. The indentations in the machined casting represent three spots that com- prise a three-point datum plane (A-da- tum). A line connecting two of the centers generates the B-datum. Any of the indi- vidual centers makes up the C-datum.
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