Addressing tbe tooling and casting requirements at design stage

Bhaskai Sinha
ueometiic Ltu.
Bhaskai.sinhageometiicglobal.com

Abstract
Seveial of the tooling anu casting
iequiiements of a pait can be auuiesseu at
the uesign stage. If these iequiiements aie
not auuiesseu at the uesign stage, lot of time
is spent in uesign iteiation when the uesign
ieaches the uie castei. These uesign issues
leau to inciease in time anu cost of
piouuction leauing to uelay in time to maiket
anu ieuuceu piofits foi the oiganization. The
featuies piesent in the uesign ueteimine the
total cost anu the complexity of the tool.
Besigneis shoulu be awaie of the cost of
featuies auueu to the pait anu shoulu tiy to
ieuuce cost wheievei possible.
Some of the featuies that affect cost, tool life
anu castability aie wall thickness, iib
paiameteis, uimensions of bosses, holes,
shaip coineis, uiaft angle, fillet iauii,
engiaving, finishing, toleiances, mateiial,
quantity of piouuceu paits, to name a few.
This papei uiscusses vaiious issues ielateu to
casting anu tooling that can be auuiesseu at
the uesign stage to save valuable time anu
cost.

Introduction
Theie aie seveial guiuelines foi uesigneis to
ensuie the uie cast component is successfully
manufactuieu. Auheiing to these guiuelines
ensuies the uie cast component is cost
effective with iequiieu uimensional accuiacy,
suiface finish, quality anu meets the
functional iequiiements |1j.
Some of these uesign guiuelines have been
uiscusseu in the sections below anu the way
to auheie to these guiuelines using
automateu piocess at the uesign stage have
been uiscusseu.

Casting guidelines
This section lists some of the common casting
guiuelines followeu by the casting inuustiy.
Wall Tbickness
Thick sections iequiie moie cooling time anu
hence incieases the cycle time |1j. Thick
section cause poiosity, inciease in the weight
of the pait which in tuin affects efficiency anu
auus to mateiial cost. Thin sections cool
fastei than the thick sections. This may block
the metal fiom flowing to othei paits of the
mouel |2j.
Suuuen change in thickness causes pioblems
associateu with abiupt soliuification which
incieases the tuibulence anu entiappeu gas
|2j causing stiess anu poiosity in the pait.
Wall thickness shoulu be kept unifoim. As pei
NABCA guiuelines, iange of wall thickness
shoulu be 2 times the thinnest wall section.
Recommenueu wall thickness foi aluminum
casting is S.S mm |1j.
Mold Wall tbickness
Nolu wall thickness is impoitant aspect in uie
casting. If the tool is too thin anu elongateu,
stiesses uevelop in the tool. Also, special
mateiial is iequiieu foi such aieas in the tool.
The pait in the tool neeus iegulai
ieplacement so seiviceability of the tool
shoulu be taken into account |2j.
Ribs
Ribs can be auueu to thin walleu castings to
inciease pait stiength. In auuition, these iibs
pioviue an iueal location foi ejectoi pins anu
assist in metal flow. Ribs shoulu have fillets at
the top anu the base to eliminate shaip
coineis |1j.
Bosses
Bosses aie piojections foi suppoiting an
attachment oi fastenei oi wheie a pait such
as a beaiing on some mating pait is to be
applieu oi suppoiteu. Bosses aie coieu to
avoiu thick sections in the pait anu pievent
poiosity anu sink maiks on the opposite
suiface. Foi laige bosses, iibs aie auueu to
pioviue stiength |Sj.
Draft Angle
Biaft is the tapei given to coies anu cavity foi
easy iemoval of the casting. The uiaft angle
will uepenu on the type of the suiface, the
uepth of uiaw anu the mateiial |1j.
Bepth (mm) Biaft Angle (uegiees)
2.S 6
2S 1.9
127 u.8S

Table 1: Stanuaiu uiaft toleiances foi uiaft on
insiue suifaces, outsiue suifaces anu holes
achievable unuei noimal piouuction
conuitions |1j.
Holes
Boles have uiffeient functions; metal saveis,
cleaiance, functional oi locating. Netal saveis
aie useu to ieuuce weight of the pait,
maintain unifoim wall thickness, ensuie
smooth metal flow uuiing injection anu
enhance tool life. As pei NABCA guiuelines,
foi coieu holes, minimum hole uiametei
shoulu be 6.u mm anu shoulu be paiallel to
the uiiection of the uiaw. Foi holes with
uiametei less than 12.S mm, the iatio of coie
length to uiametei shoulu be less than 4. Foi
holes with uiametei gieatei than 12.S, the
length to uiametei iatio shoulu not exceeu 1u
|1j.
Fillets and Sbarp corners
Shaip euges, coineis anu suuuen thickness
vaiiations shoulu be avoiueu in uie-casting
paits. Shaip coineis aie unuesiiable because
they become a localizeu point of heat anu
stiess built-up in the uie steel, which can
cause uie ciacking anu eaily failuie. Fillets
shoulu be auueu to shaip euges anu coineis
|4j.

Lettering
Letteiing anu othei iuentification maiks in a
uie cast components aie eithei uepiesseu oi
iaiseu featuies. Raiseu letteiing is piefeiieu
ovei uepiesseu because it iequiies lessei uie-
cost anu uie maintenance as compaieu to
uepiesseu letteiing |1j.

Applying casting guidelines at
design stage
The above mentioneu casting guiuelines can
be applieu at the uesign stage by using
automateu CAB integiateu tools available in
the maiket.
Metbod of identifying wall tbickness
related issues
Eveiy CAB mouelei has a measuie
functionality to ueteimine the uistance
between two selecteu points. This tool is useu
fiequently by many oiganizations to
ueteimine the wall thickness at a given
section. Bowevei, theie aie vaiious issues
encounteieu using this tool |Sj. To auuiess
these issues, seveial wall thickness
technologies aie available |2,6,Sj. 0sing these
automateu wall thickness technologies, SB
wall thickness of the mouel can be easily
computeu. Figuie 1 shows one such tool useu
to compute thick oi thin walls anu vaiiations
in wall thickness |Sj.

Figuie 1: Wall thickness analysis using spheie
methou |Sj on engine block using
ueomCalipei |7j.

Figuie 2: Automatically iuentify thin iegions
in engine block using ueomCalipei |7j.





Figuie S: Checking thick sections in casting
using ueomCalipei |7j.
Mold Wall Tbickness
Nolu wall thickness can be ueiiveu by
checking uesign featuies on the mouel. Figuie
4 shows all instances wheie such pioblems
occui. Ribs too close to each othei, bosses
veiy close to each othei, bosses anu iibs close
to each othei, bosses with ueep naiiow holes,
iibs bosses close to the wall causes
pioblems ielateu to molu wall thickness |1j.
Figuie S a: Thick iegion in casting
Figuie S b: Automatic cieation of section plane
along the thick section anu checking ciitical
sections along the section plane

Figuie 4: Checking Nolu Wall thickness using
BFNPio |8j
Ribs
Ribs aie mainly incoipoiateu into a uie
casting to stiuctuially ieinfoice it, ieplacing
heavy sections that woulu be otheiwise
necessaiy. To avoius sinks, iibs shoulu not be
much wiuei than the thickness of the casting
wall anu no highei than 4 times theii
thickness foi complete filling. Ample uiaft (at
least 2 uegiees pei siue) must be given foi
easy ejection. If iibs aie uesigneu to cioss,
they shoulu uo at iight angles as fai as
possible |Sj.

Figuie S: Wiue iibs iuentifieu in uesign using
BFNPio |8j.

Figuie 6: BFNPio useu to iuentify iibs with
high height to nominal thickness |8j.
Bosses
The height to uiametei iatio of the boss is
iecommenueu to be below 1. Foi iatios
gieatei than 1, iibs shoulu be useu to
impiove filling. Bistance between bosses
shoulu be 6.S mm to minimize poiosity |1j.

Figuie 7: 0sing BFNPio, boss iuentifieu in
uesign which has a height to uiametei iatio of
moie than 1.u |8j.

Figuie 8: Bosses with insufficient oi missing
fillets at the tip anu base iuentifieu |8j.
Draft angle cbeck
Fiom the point of incieasing the tool life,
appiopiiate uiaft angle shoulu be pioviueu.
Featuies with ieveise uiaft shoulu be
avoiueu |4j.


Figuie 9: Iuentifying all aieas in a casting
which iequiie uiaft using BFNPio |8j.

Figuie 1u: 0nueicuts iuentifieu in Engine
block |8j
Holes
The hole uepth to uiametei iatio shoulu be
followeu baseu on mateiial useu. 0nifoim
wall thickness aiounu holes shoulu be
maintaineu. Biaft angle of holes shoulu be
minimizeu |1j.


Figuie 11: Bole uepth to uiametei iatio
gieatei than peimissible value iuentifieu in
the mouel |8j.
Fillets and sbarp corners
All shaip coineis anu fillets with insufficient
iauii can be iuentifieu at the uesign stage anu
coiiecteu. This will save uownstieam cost
anu time.

Figuie 12: Shaip coineis highlighteu in
uesign |8j.

Conclusion
Theie aie many uesign guiuelines available
foi casting. If these guiuelines aie enfoiceu at
the uesign stage, theie aie seveial benefits
like impioveu quality of cast pait, impioveu
tool life, cost ieuuction anu fastei time to
maiket. The above papei uiscusseu some of
the guiuelines anu how automateu tools
integiateu within the CAB enviionment can
help achieve the objectives of the casting
inuustiy.
Scope for future work
The iesults obtaineu in the papei weie
achieveu using tools like ueomCalipei |7j anu
BFNPio |8j. BFNPio uses featuie iecognition
technology |9j which can extiact
manufactuiing featuies fiom the CAB uesign.
This technology can even opeiate on
impoiteu mouels. Cuiiently, BFNPio uses
featuie iecognition to extiact manufactuiing
featuies fiom the uesign anu apply the
manufactuiability guiuelines to these
featuies. The concept can be extenueu to use
these manufactuiing featuies to estimate the
cost of the casting iight at the uesign stage.

Acknowledgements
I sinceiely thank my colleagues Yogiiaj Bama
anu Rahul Rajauhyaksha foi pioviuing me all
the suppoit neeueu in compiling this papei. I
woulu also thank ueometiic Ltu. foi
peimitting me to take my time off foi wiiting
this papei.

References
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