+Die Cast Part Design Class

.: a Symposium for Product Designers
and Mechanical Engineers :.

Course Duration: 16 hour workshop
(This two day class is offered each month so check the design engine class schedule for exact dates.)

Tuition: $1000.00 US

Overview: The course material is designed to provide a working knowledge of the die cast molding industry. The bulk of your time in this workshop will be spent on the part design requirements imposed on the designer by the die casting process. This class is for those engineers or industrial designers looking to further their manufacturing processes experience and understanding.

Prerequisites: General knowledge of Pro/ENGINEER or another parametric 3dimensional CAD modeler helpful but not necessary. Class can be administered with one or another of your favorite parametric modeler.

Call to ask for a proposal to sign up your company into a week long on-site cumulative workshop that encompasses all three manufacturing processes classes design engine offeres. In this way participants can master and leverage advanced modeling techniques with specific manufacturing processes that makes for lighter, stronger parts with confidence. These classes can be offered anytime requiring only two to make a class in our Chicago office. 312.226.8339

Cut away view of a Yamaha motor showing multiple die cast parts in an assembly.

Topics:
- The process, die cast molds, tooling, processing factors, Nominal Walls, - Radii and draft angles, Ribs, Weldlines, stress, cooling metals, bosses, undercuts.
- Also snap fit, FEA, Design recommendations, flow mold analysis software.
- Learn to Design molded undercuts and sliders
- Learn about various die cast materials and discuss material properties such as adding zinc and copper for more malleable alloys i.e. Kohler faucets
- Engineers or designers will learn to utilize tooling and die cast injection molders as a resource to design better piece parts.
- Learn about the metal mold itself and many of its intricacies such as sleeve ejection, how it is cooled, sprue and runner, ejector bars, ejector plates, and ejector pins.
- Discuss the steps for die the casting process
- Learn about the Pore-free casting process for eliminating gas porosity.
- Learn about heated-manifold direct-injection die casting.



A Harley Davidson Die Cast stylized part showing example of a chrome A-side surface.

Discussions:
- History of forming metals
- Die casting as a process and it's specific history
- Discuss how an die cast mold process works in detail hot chamber vs. cold chamber.
- Alloys with respect to die casting ... zinc, aluminum, magnesium, copper, lead, and tin. Also help designer to choose proper alloy.
- Discuss how China plays a major role in die cast tooling and the casting process. Discuss the quotation process for tooling and discuss partnering with local die casters molders vs. outsourcing. - strengths and weakness of outsourcing.
- Discuss basic design elements in die cast part design. Holes, ribs, thin wall features, bosses, nominal wall, and fill.
- General rules for hollow boss design and discuss best practices. - Learn about thin blade situations and discuss ways to avoid.
- Advantages and disadvantages of die casting.
- Discuss gating and discuss problems such as fill vent and eject issues as related to die casting. Also discuss how to design in solutions to would be cosmetic problems.
- Discuss cooling time as related to thick sections of aluminum. Discuss internal voids and fundamentals of other problems that occur from improper piece part design.
- Discuss using parametric modelers in general and discuss examples where using variables with a parametric modeler can save problems in the future complete with in class examples.
- FEA and stress associated with die cast design with respect to FEA. Keeping in mind the deliverable for FEA is simply to make design recommendations discuss the possible solutions to many of the common molding problems. Keep in mind shrink, stress from sharp corners as related to cavity filling.
- List die cast vendors and discuss their role and how designers can leverage their experience.
- Discuss tooling and different materials for mold design. Discuss from a machining point of view and compare to cutting graphite for electrode burning of steel.
- Discuss how to improve flow of the melt through the mold and discuss Flow Molding analysis software
Discuss designing undercuts and discuss advantages and disadvantages as relative to costs
- Discuss general disclaimers on drawings such as "brake all sharp corners" and other associated notes that engineers might find on detail drawings.
- Discuss different types of undercuts and side pull options (can be customized if prearranged with CAD manager of your various company)
- Discuss what challenges (flow, cooling, ejection, handling, maintenance) a mold designer faces when designing a mold and briefly describe in detail using your favorite parametric software an example for creating the cavity and splitting apart the mold base
- Draft as related to texture texture kits. Discuss how to call out textures on your favorite drawing program with examples.
- joining the North American Die Casting Association.

Die Cast Aluminum Pro/E model. In this Pro/ENGINEER tutorial the user will create ribs that are offset from the parting line instead of what is shown. This is also a Copy Geometry tutorial all a part of this die cast part design class.

The complete diecast stapler where the participants utilize many forms of sweeps, draft, top down design and draft analysis tools.

Pro/ENGINEER specific:
- Discuss draft in it's many forms complete with examples of split draft etc.
- Learn to use surfacing and discuss it's usefulness with die cast part design.
- Learn to use top down design with examples in Pro/ENGINEER.
- Adding draft to parts that currently have no draft.
- on at least one example use Pro/ENGINEER to modify parts that others modeled so that those parts are moldable.
- Discuss tips tricks and techniques for starting and completing die cast parts using Pro/ENGINEER.
- Learn to use parameters to drive geometry relative to nominal wall thickness.
- Discuss B-Side geometry creation techniques including PEM inserts, bosses and ribs.
- Learn to use Utilize Draft check correctly
- Heat treatment
- Discuss chrome applications and other plating, painting or powder coating processes.
- Techniques for managing the Pro/E machining features.
- Techniques for mounting your existing die cast part to your CNC machine (features in Pro/ENGINEER)

There is a great deal of HTML course material students take back with them from this workshop.

Another Die Cast part on display showing many intricacies and complexities possible.

Compare:
- Compare Metal injection molding or Powder Injection Molding or PIM to die casting
- Die casting vs. plastic molding
- Die casting vs. permanent mold
- Die casting vs. forging process with respect to cost and qty.

Die Cast parts placed together into an assembly.

Die cast part before plating.

Die Cast parts together in an assembly. Tolerances can be so tight and surface finishes so near flat that machining may not be nesssessary for gasket sealing.