Metal part casting reduces lead times by months

Historic sports car specialist is making a reduction of around three to four months' lead time using a metal part casting process, which does not require wooden moulds.

MCP's Metal Part Casting System has proved to be a convenient and economical solution for historic sports car specialist, James Watt Automotive, in the production of parts for the restoration of some important vehicles.

In most instances the company is making significant cost savings and crucially a reduction of around three to four months' lead time when compared with traditional production methods such as wooden mould manufacture.

Managing director, James Watt, explained, "Metal Part Casting is a great opportunity for the classic car industry when we need say, six or 12 of a particular part.

So far we have used the system to produce wheel centres and suspension rockers but it would also work well for engine ancillary parts and gear box components." Complete gear box housings have been produced by the system which, depending on the type of model used, can produce parts in as little as one day.

Cars currently being restored or made race ready for clients by James Watt Automotive include a 1984 Ferrari Testerosa , a 2002 GT RS Porsche (one of only 38 made), a 1955 Daimler Dart and a 1974 Mclaren F1 plus, of particular interest, a collection of historically important Matra Sports prototype and Formula 1 cars.

The team handle design, machining, fabrication and engine building in house and the Metal Part Casting System helps them to rapidly produce metal parts which deliver both performance and durability.

The original one-piece wheels on the Matra MS650 were cast from lightweight magnesium and only expected to last for one race.

The team at James Watt has designed a three-piece wheel for the vehicle which is cast in MCP's A357.1 aerospace grade, corrosion-proof alloy - still light enough for racing but with far better durability.

Metal Part Casting is a simple process.

In the case of the suspension rockers (cast to replace the originals from the 1974 Le Mans winning Matra MS670) Thermojet models were produced from CAD data after James Watt's team slightly modified the original design, which was then evaluated using FEA analysis.

The Thermojet models are first encapsulated in ceramic under vacuum in the system's casting flask.

As the flask is dried in the system's oven, the Thermojet model is melted out, the resulting ceramic mould is placed into the casting unit where melting and pouring of the metal into the ceramic is controlled by touch screen.

A high pressure water jet is used to remove the ceramic from the flask leaving a perfect metal casting with no sand blasting required.

The whole process can be completed in one day from 'burnout' models, such as Thermojet or wax.

However, process time is increased to three days when conventional or SLA models of the part are provided, as it is necessary to produce a wax casting first (using silicone moulds and the MCP vacuum casting process).

Designed primarily for in-house casting of quick metal parts in aluminium, bronze, brass or magnesium, the largest version of the system has a capacity of up to 27kg or 59 lb.

The Metal Part Casting System is supplied by MCP to customers all over the world as a complete package, including machines, materials and training.

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