Processes

Floor moulding is a traditional sand moulding process where the sand castings are made on the floor or ground by sand boxes.

Stage 1 Moulding

  1. Original patterns are taken from stock, supplied by the customer, or produced in- house from customer drawings.
  2. The pattern is moulded in chemically bonded sand and left to harden.
  3. Once hardened, the patterns are removed from the mould.
  4. The mould cavity is then coated with special paint, which is fired off to harden it. The purpose of this is to improve the surface finish of the casting and to prevent the molten metal burning on to the broken sand. At this stage, the cores are put in place.

Stage 2 Steel Melting

  1. Scrap metal is placed in the furnace to be melted.
  2. After the steel has been melted it is poured into a ladle.
  3. The ladle is positioned over the moulds, which are filled with the molten metal.
  4. The extremely hot mould is left to cool. Weights are secured on top of the mould to prevent the top from lifting up under metalostatic pressure.

Stage 3 Finishing

  1. When the metal has solidified and cooled sufficiently the casting is knocked out of the mould, roughly shot blasted, and is then ready for the fettling process.
  2. Where necessary, heat treatment is applied to the casting.
  3. The finished castings are then treated by shot blasting. It is then subjected to a final quality inspection before being dispatched.