Streamlining Investment Castings: The Waterblast Advantage
One of the important steps for producing investment castings involves removing the investment casting shells. Stainless Foundry & Engineering (SF&E) recently replaced a manual process using a knockout hammer, spinner blast, and a hand chisel with the automation of a high-pressure waterblast. The Triplex Systems, Inc TRX-1250CAM Combination Automatic and Manual Precision Cleaning® Center enables SF&E to offer the higher quality and faster turnaround times our customers require.
The waterblast cabinet contains the entire process of removing the investment casting shells, using several gallons of water per minute at a powerful 20,000 psi. Within the cabinet is an advanced high-pressure jet cleaning system, rotary table, and manual hand wand for those hard to reach areas.
“At SF&E we are committed to investing in our employees and in new technology,” said Jim Stachowiak, President and CEO of Stainless Foundry & Engineering. “In 2024, we have increased our budgets for both employee training and capital expenditures and have several capital investments planned that target improved safety, quality, and productivity.”
Replacing a Tedious Job
Before bringing the TRX-1250CAM waterblast system online, standard operation processes required the SF&E production team to use a vibratory knockout hammer and blast operation to remove the investment casting shell. After the parts were cut off, additional processing was required to remove ceramic from holes and narrow passageways. The production team would need to soak the parts in a Kolene salt bath, shot blast, and use hand chisels to clear the ceramic shell.
With the waterblast system, the operators can completely control the different settings and the direction of the water jets along a five-axis movement to precisely remove investment shells in an automated setting, manually clear out passageways in the castings, and produce a clean part before cut-off operations. This efficiency enabled SF&E to reduce the number of products that need to go to Kolene by 75%, which is a time and cost improvement, and completely eliminated the need for hand chisels, decreasing probability of quality issues.
“A lot of employees are happy with SF&E’s commitment to investing in the future,” said Adam Hilgenberg, Cleaning Room Manager for Stainless Foundry & Engineering. “Overall, the waterblast has helped the blast area machines run more efficiently with less castings being worked on that are full of ceramic. We are excited to see the increased productivity as a result of this new technology.”
The manual process of chipping ceramic shells away from investment castings was tedious and time-consuming and could cause damage to the castings, especially those with an intricate design. Most often, damage involved deep scrapes and light scratches that required the extra steps of grinding and upgrading, which increased costs and lead times in the production process. Occasionally, the casting could end up so damaged that it needed to be recast.
The new waterblast process produces clean castings with a smoother, damage-free surface finish and reduces labor and inspection hours by 10% to 20%. This frees up space in the cleaning rooms and allows employees to work in different areas of the production floor. A win-win situation, according to Hilgenberg.
Improving the Work Environment
As for the work environment, there are multiple benefits. Knockout hammers were one of the highest noise contributors in the foundry and a large generator of airborne silica as the castings were removed. Now, the noise is eliminated, and all airborne particles are suspended in the water system of the waterblast. By containing silica particles within the waterblast cabinet, SF&E can improve the overall air quality of the area, providing a healthier and safer work environment.
The waterblast system enables SF&E to take a very labor-intensive process and automate it resulting in many benefits for employees, environment, and most importantly our customers. This process improvement is just one of our ongoing initiatives for investing in leading-edge technology.
“With the success of the waterblast, I am excited to see where else we can deploy new technology and automation in the foundry,” Stachowiak said. “Technology and automation will allow us to continue to grow and stay competitive in the market.”
If you are interested in learning more about our efficiency and quality, contact us at sales@stainlessfoundry.com.