DESIGN DETAILS SAVING SOIL BY LIGHTWEIGHTING WITH ADI A JITEN SHAH, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & ANALYSIS (NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS) Craft Pattern & Mold allowed the customer to redesign the com-ponent as a smaller yet stronger part. Reducing weight is critical in the ag industry to help avoid soil compaction. Th e ADI casting has reduced the cost of manufacture over the steel weldment. luminum is not the only material choice when it comes to lightweighting. In many cases, aus-tempered ductile iron (ADI) can reduce weight versus a steel weldment due to the material’s excellent combina-tion of strength, ductility, toughness, and endurance to fatigue. In the case of a spindle casting for a steering and suspen-sion system used in the agricultural market, converting from a steel weldment to an ADI casting pro-duced by AFS Corporate Member CAREFUL PARTING PLANE ORIENTATION MAKES ONE-PIECE CONFIGURATION FEASIBLE. • In today’s 3D CAD environ-ment, any potential interfer-ences with the mating parts and surface of the assembly can be easily checked right from the conceptual design stage all the way through the fi nal detail and can be optimized to produce a compact lightweight design. • Th e very fi rst step in casting de-sign is the selection of the parting plane and orientation with respect to gravity (like cope and drag side of the mold) and is done in such a 20 | CASTING SOURCE | SEPT/OCT 2022 way to ensure easy withdrawal of features with draft, access for core placement, and ease of gating and risering. Casting is the only manufacturing pro-cess that allows complex 3D surfaces to transition smoothly from one section to another. • Compared to other metal manufacturing processes, metal castings uniquely off er the fl ex-ibility of separating inside and outside surfaces and contours. The outside surfaces are generated by the impression of the pattern; the inside surfaces are generated by the core.The mold and core are assem-bled to form the cavity into which the liquid metal is poured—once the metal is solidifi ed, the cavity forms the desired shape. TO PRECISELY LOCATE THE INLET PORT (1), IT WAS CONSOLIDATED WITH THE MAIN BARREL CORE (2). • From the form, fi t, and functionality the two barrel-shaped critical features with internal passageways and posi-tional tolerances were achieved with the use of cores.
Casting Source September/October 2022: Page 20
