TRICK OF THE MONTH !"#$%"&'()$*")+,-./+01 Ten minutes of thought could save two years of pain!

Well it is a new year, for both the Western and Chinese New Year. Some people start the new year with resolutions that they never really keep. But this year, it would pay to keep ONE resolution to change. At MMAA Global we often see companies with casting problems that result in reject rates rising, profits falling and an operating window so small that small breezes seem to effect the quality. These are the ones where people say but the rejects are huge yet I have changed nothing from yesterday. A decision you make today without thinking could result in years of heartache and problems... What do we mean? Take an example. A runner is designed so that the metal has to flow up to the top of the cavity and then back flow into another area. Because of that LONG flow path the molten metal can part-solidify before reaching its final destination (cold flow). To stop this cold flow you increase the plunger speed and heat up the die (drop cooling to get rid of the cold flow). Now the higher plunger speed means a higher gate velocity. The gates now solder easily, wear more rapidly and any cores in the direct flow from the gate erode, cavitate and solder easily. To stop this you die spray for a longer time. This causes an increase in porosity, it also causes black marks on the casting that the customer hates and these further result in powder coating or plating blistering/fall off. The plunger speed is high so the die is more prone to flashing. This causes cleaning problems (cleaning up flash from the floor) and increased die maintenance and a reduction in die life. So now you have a die that solders easily, the die spray is critical, you have high maintenance costs on your die, your customer complains of variable quality and the operators are complaining of being rained on with molten metal! HOW DID THIS OCCUR? Well, if you had spent 10 minutes designing the runner in a systematic way then, in most cases, you would think of the WHERE the flow is going. We have free training for runner design on the web (for example, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOYQaC9MiAo&feature=related). Unfortunately there are companies that rapidly make decisions on the die/runner design, then spend a huge amount of time in die trials to get acceptable parts, and then spend more time trying to produce production parts on a die that swaps and changes from day to day. They run from one problem to the next. As a result, they have very little time to spend on new products. So they make quick decisions that mean that the die is difficult to run and the circle starts again. Little time because they were rushed.. and now they are rushed some more because of the new problems. Stop the vicious circle NOW. We can help! If you have a part with reasonable production runs then it is very worthwhile to do flow simulations. The cost of the simulation is only a fraction of the cost of the rejects and die trials. At MMAA GLOBAL we design a large number of dies per year and use simulation on virtually every one. Why do we do it? Well, it means that the chances of having a good part in the first trial are very high. We design them so they have the largest operating window that we can. That makes your life easier, it means that the process is more stable, it means that you are a happy customer of MMAA GLOBAL and you have a happy customer for your parts. We all win! You can have simulation in YOUR plant relatively cheaply. Go to MAGMA and ask about their Pre/POST processor package. It is an inexpensive way to get going in simulation. We can teach you our methods of runner and thermal design. They are proven and work. We have training manuals and training presentations. We can train you in your plant or via webinars. Die casting is difficult, but it can be made a whole lot easier with a well-designed runner design and good in-die cooling. So, the next time you have a new part and havent got the time to design it correctly remember that the decisions you make today can cause you mental and financial pain for a long while to come. This is presented by MMAA Global- a Consortium of Die Casting Experts (see www.mmaaglobal.com) At MMAA Global we offer an international solution to your die casting needs with bases in Europe, Australia/South East Asia, China and South Africa. We can assist you in: * Foundry Training at all levels of the company * Die Design * Part Design * Troubleshooting * Assisting in outsourcing Die Manufacture * Flow and Thermal Simulation

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