Foundry Engineering / Pattern Shop

New Pattern in Production

Quality castings start with proper rigging and pattern production. Harrison Steel operates a 20,385 sq. ft. commercial pattern shop. We can provide customers with prototype or production patterns utilizing mahogany, white pine or epoxy materials.

Having our own Pattern shop is important not only in New Pattern Production, but in the maintenance and upkeep of existing pattern

 

Pattern Repair

equipment. Each time a pattern is used it is inspected by the molding department and then sent to the pattern shop for repairs before the pattern is returned to storage. An in-house pattern shop also provides the advantage of reacting quickly to customer engineering changes.

Our Foundry Engineers are responsible for developing the appropriate feeding requirements for the castings and for setting the molding processes.

 

Harrison Steel utilizes SOLIDCast® to simulate the solidification process, as a casting cools, within a mold. The modeling process will help us predict defects within the casting. We can then redesign the process to eliminate the defects prior to manufacture. First, a 3-Dimensional model of the casting is made using Pro /Engineering from Parametric Technology Corporation.

 

 

Then, an STL file is exported from Pro/Engineer to SOLIDCast® where a rectangular mesh is created. SOLIDCast® uses the Finite Difference Method (FDM) to calculate the Solidification Time, Critical Fraction Solid Time, Material Density Function, Temperature Gradient, Cooling Rate, and The Niyama Criterion.

 

 

 

Movie - Web1.mpg (1.43 MB)

We also use Passage/PowerCast® from Technalysis. PowerCast® is a finite element software package used to predict the manufacturability of cast parts. We use Pro/Engineer to export a tetrahedral mesh used by PowerCast®. This software package solves for the convective and conduction energy equation, as well as, the Navier-Stokes equation.

CAPABILITIES INCLUDE:
Coupled fluid flow and heat transfer during filling.
Solidification and cooling.
Predicts shrinkage and porosity.

GRAPHICAL DISPLAY OF:
Pressure, temperature, and solidification patterns.
Cooling curves at any location and section.
Hot spots
Filling and velocities
Niyama

Pattern Storage

 

OUR GOALS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Improve our success rate on the first casting poured.

Eliminate production problems quickly.

Reduce scrap.

Reduce lead time.

Improve yield.

Pattern Storage

Lower cost.

Improve quality.