Industry News
New Automated Wax Press Added to Ensure Continued
Fast Delivery of Quality Investment Castings at Franklin Bronze Precision Components Franklin Bronze Precision Components added an additional automated wax press to improve productivity. The new auto press generates more patterns per hour resulting in increased throughput. The new high volume wax press incorporates a robotic
Industry Mourns Passing of G. Dixon (Dick) Chandley G. Dixon (Dick) Chandley, age 90 passed away in
his hometown of Lake Wales, FL, where he lived after his retirement from Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc. in. 2000.
Dick was very active in the investment casting field, being Chief Engineer at TRW Metals Division 1962-1967 and Vice President, Technology of Hitchiner 1967-2000. He not only published many papers in the ICI but authored many patents in wide use around the world. Probably the best known are directional solidfication of gas turbine engine blades and vanes and countergravity casting of all sorts of parts such as multipurpose tools, golf club heads, automotive parts, and large thin-walled jet engine parts. Many years ago, he was chairman of the ICI committee which issued the first Basic Metal Quality Standard for our industry to cover commercial quality castings. John H. Morison, III, Chairman & C.E.O. of Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc. stated, “While Dick Chandley was best known at Hitchiner as the inventor of the Counter Gravity Investment Casting process, he developed many uniquely innovative processes for working metals during the 33 years that he headed the Company’s research and development efforts. In addition to the IC Counter Gravity process using ceramic shells, Dick led the development of counter gravity processes using resin shell and sand molds in air, as well as Counter Gravity processes for casting reactive alloys. Today, every casting produced at Hitchiner is made using a process that uses technology that was either invented by Dick or evolved from it, including the latest innovation, the Counter Gravity Single Chrystal Casting process that is in production in our DS/Single Chrystal facility.”
52 ❘ August 2021 ®
mold spray system that is flexible and precise, integrating controls for spray amount and location dependent on part and tool design. The robotic system within the auto press can be pre-programmed and run on demand, the first of its kind. With two auto wax presses in-house, operators can continuously run parts engineered for auto tooling, doubling capacity while utilizing one employee. As an example of the increased efficiency, production previously manufactured 200 pieces of a specific part in two shifts and now produces 300 of that same part in one shift. “Make the presses do the work, not the operators,” explains Anthony Haag, Wax Room Supervisor. Future plans include automating the part retrieval. Through
core pull technology, the machine will automatically pull the tooling apart, remove the part and reassemble the tooling without operator intervention. This will allow for complex tooled parts with multiple components to be manufactured in a considerably shorter time frame than before. According to Operations Manager, Chris Barber, “We do
whatever it takes to start the process with a quality part to ensure product flows through our processes and exceeds the customer’s expectations”.
About Franklin Bronze Precision Components Franklin
Bronze Precision Components manufactures
investment castings for glass container, pumps & valves, steel, automotive and food processing. Franklin Bronze provides high-quality, consistent
products supported by technical expertise, in-house tooling & machining, and automated processing. Franklin Bronze Precision Components is known for speed to market and close collaboration with customers pouring a variety of alloys from stainless steel, nickel, aluminum, and brass to bronze. With highly qualified engineers on staff, we work in partnership with our customers for joint design development, flexibility and customization.
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