Month: September 2011

By implementing a plan to help an employee transition back into the working world after a stroke, Chicago White Metal has earned the 2007 Corporate Award from the prestigious Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, which is dedicated to helping people with physical disabilities live a fulfilling life.

“CWM needed to work closely with the employee’s rehabilitation caseworker to review, organize and monitor his work schedules, workload and overall physical condition,” according to Anne Andrews, newly appointed CWM Human Resources Manager. “We did this with the guidance of his direct supervisor and the managers of several CWM departments to determine what the optimum permanent fit would be for him at Chicago White Metal Casting.”

In recognition of the importance of association activity to growing the world-wide market for magnesium die castings, Chicago White Metal Casting has been a 22-year company member of the International Magnesium Association. And CWM CEO Walter Treiber has made a continuing personal commitment to the work of this association in a variety of capacities.

Walter has served two separate spans as IMA president: the first an unprecedented three consecutive terms from 1990 to 1993 and the last a two-term stint from 2005 to 2007, after which he is retiring his IMA presidential gavel. He continues as a member of the IMA Executive Committee and the Board of Directors.

Special “Mag Promotion Award.” CWM was the only member company to receive a special IMA award for “Promoting Magnesium Die Casting,” and has been the recipient of many “Magnesium Die Casting Design Excellence Awards.” Chicago White Metal and Oskar Frech GmbH & Co. partnered to develop the world’s largest capacity hot-chamber Mg die casting machine, which won the IMA’s “Process Award of Excellence” in 1989.

The superior mechanical qualities of magnesium can now be combined with a premium cosmetic plated finish offering product designers a cost-effective new option. New joint material and process finishing developments have brought quality electroplating to Mg die casting for a wide range of new applications.

The new mag chrome-plated surface finishes for die cast housings and components are comparable to that achievable in high-quality zinc parts and superior to that of molded plastic.

Quality chrome plating for thin-wall, lightweight mag has long been a goal when an alternative to a painted surface was desired. Chicago White Metal Casting can now offer mag’s superior advantages in rigidity, impact strength and dent resistance with a premium-plated finish, at part weights comparable to plastic. Excellent heat dissipation and built-in EMI/RFI shielding are added benefits of Mg. The costly inserts often required for plastic parts can be eliminated.

For more on how this new Mag Alloy and Chrome Electroplating development could benefit your product planning, Email the CWM Sales Dept. or call 630-595-4424.

Three entries by Chicago White Metal Casting were winners in each of their categories in the 2009 Die Casting Design Contest of the North American Die Casting Assn., scoring a first-ever triple win for CWM in this international contest.

For Aluminum Die Castings, 1 to 10 lbs., CWM was the winner with a baseplate control support structure for a dental workstation, serving as a rigid platform for mounting air, water, and pneumatic control lines concealed with a cosmetic cover. Cut-out features over a 6 in. length across the 8.5 in. center width of this plate restricts the edge-to-edge metal flow, creating a challenging die fill. CWM employed its Magmasoft simulation software in developing the optimum gating system for this component.

For Aluminum Die Castings, under 1 lb., the winning as-cast die casting went to the CWM automotive mirror mount. This casting achieves the structural integrity and critical dimensional accuracy required to withstand years of trouble-free operation through wide changes in temperature and humidity. The ball end is held to a tolerance of +/-0.1 mm that must be maintained over a long production run

For Magnesium Die Castings, over .5 lbs., CWM’s third winner was a set of two hot-chamber Mg side-walls for a medical imager, providing exterior cosmetics as well as critical functions to this state-of-the-art desktop unit: the die cast walls assure cassette alignment and support for rollers and motors. Die cast Mg offered optimum dimensional accuracy and repeatability, with flatness held as-cast to .032 in. or less over almost a 20 in. length, and significant weight reduction. A proprietary injection system eliminated edge gating, with metal injected directly into the die casting.