Chicago White Metal Casting’s three entries were winners in each of their categories in the 2009 Die Casting Design Contest of the North American Die Casting Assn., scoring CWM’s first-ever triple win 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. This structure serves as a rigid platform for mounting air, water, and pneumatic control lines concealed with a cosmetic cover. Cut-out features over a six-length across the 8.5-in. center width of this plate restrict the edge-to-edge metal flow, creating a challenging die fill. CWM employed its Magmasoft simulation software to develop the optimum gating system for this component.
For Aluminum Die Castings under one 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, which 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 a 20 in. length, and significant weight reduction. A proprietary injection system eliminated edge gating, with metal injected directly into the die casting.
