| Aluminum casting begins with an idea, an idea for a | | | | casting the customer examines the product obtained |
| new aluminum product. The person who has | | | | from the mold. If the customer approves of the |
| visualized the product, one that can be made from | | | | sample coming from the first casting, then, full-scale |
| aluminum, must share his or her idea. The idea | | | | aluminum casting is ready to commence. |
| creator develops a sample product or a drawing, one | | | | Factory workers pour a coating into the iron mold. |
| that makes clear his or her conceptualized product. | | | | That coating reduces the wear on the mold. The |
| Yet before any factory begins to make aluminum | | | | coating prepares the mold for a long sequence of |
| castings, the conceptualized product must be | | | | aluminum casting. |
| evaluated. Does it meet the quality standards | | | | Each round in the long sequence of aluminum castings |
| recognized by the aluminum industry? Can it be | | | | initiates with the melting of an aluminum alloy. The |
| manufactured using available technology? What tools | | | | alloy is exposed to temperatures of 1300 degrees |
| and machines are needed to make the | | | | Fahrenheit. The alloy melts, and workers ladle the |
| conceptualized product? | | | | molten metal into the iron mold. |
| After an evaluation of the conceptualized product, | | | | After the iron mold can hold no more liquid, the |
| industry experts might offer some suggestions. They | | | | molten metal is allowed to cool. Once the metal and |
| might propose changes that would facilitate | | | | mold have cooled, the iron cast is removed. At that |
| manufacture of the conceived product. They might | | | | point, finishing work on the caste aluminum |
| point out ways that the proposed product could be | | | | commences. |
| made more functional. They might suggest changes | | | | Sometimes, the product of an aluminum casting must |
| that could lower production costs. | | | | undergo debarring. Sometimes it must undergo |
| Before moving on to the next step, the idea creator | | | | sanding or grinding. Sometimes the caste aluminum |
| and the evaluators put their heads together. They | | | | becomes the focus of plating or powder coating. |
| introduce into future plans whatever changes all see | | | | In the end, the aluminum casting serves as the key |
| as necessary. Each of those changes is then | | | | step in the formation of a usable product. It is a |
| introduced into a software program. | | | | product that began in the mind of a free-thinking |
| In the 21st Century, those who take part in the | | | | man or woman. It is a product that has the qualities |
| aluminum casting process rely on information obtained | | | | industry experts viewed as fundamental to the |
| by using an iron mold. That mold is made through | | | | product's function. |
| dependence on computerized numeric control (CNC). | | | | Because the aluminum product was caste from an |
| A CNC program guides the machinery that makes | | | | iron mold, it can be re-caste again and again. The |
| the iron mold. | | | | desirable features in the finished product can be |
| Iron, a stable and long, lasting metal, holds the | | | | enjoyed by many. Those features can be reproduced |
| aluminum used in the first casting. Following that | | | | over and over, using the aluminum casting process. |