| Acme Model
Products Mould
Making and Casting Services |
|
This page is for information and guide lines on Pattern Making, Mold Making and W/Metal Castings |
All
our Castings and Mould making is now done by Praestige Models. There is a link at the bottom of this page. |
| Casting |
| Acme run 2 Centrifugal
White Metal casting machines and a High pressure Mould Maker. |
| Doing our own
castings means we can keep the costs down, but also we can control the Quality
Assurance. The casting shop is usually quite busy, but we do have slots for 3rd
Party Contracts, 1 offs or Long-term |
| Costs
are around £1 per spin + Metal weight at £6 per kilo (There is a few
hundred average sized castings in a kilo). |
| Mould Making |
| Acme use 6"/9"/11" moulds, of which the area you can use for patterns is the concentric circles Min Dia 3.5 " and Max Dia of 5.5"/8.25"/10.25". We use 2 types of moulds, The Pink Silicon Pinkies(Low-pressure, Low-Heat), and the Black Vulcanized Molds BVM (which are High=Pressure, High Temperature.) |
| BVM |
| The most common type is the BVM.
Patterns can be made in any metal, except Copper. NO
patterns should be made with low-melt solder i.e.
70 Deg. If 145 C Deg
solder is used to assemble the pattern , then the casting shape may well
form, but the pattern will probably be destroyed by the
heat. If large amounts of 145 Deg. solder
is used for shaping or filling in areas, then mould will fail.
Wood should not be used
as today's seasoning standards are extremely poor,
and the excessive moisture usually will cause an
explosion in the moulding frame, distroying the mould completely.
|
| The average BVM will give at least 1000 high Quality Spins, and then deteriorates to poor quality at 3000 spins. The life of a BVM is approx. 7 years. |
| Cost of BVM molds are from £30
per standard Thickness (1 inch). Any moulds lost due to customer fault. i.e. Not
adhering to the rules above will be charged for. |
| Pinkies |
| Pinkies
are low pressure, low temperature moulds, the customer can use almost any material
for patterns, Plaricard, Wood (Not Balsa), all metals
including Copper. (Crushable materials should not be used
i.e. 'Plaster of Paris'
etc...) |
| Cost
of Pinkies are from £38 Per standard Thickness(1 inch), and they will make
high quality W/Metal casting. If treated with care and consideration, the life
can be up to 200 spins, if excessive bending is required to release the castings
the spins could drop to under a hundred. |
|
It is essential for the
customer to realise that if any pattern that has a cavity,
either BVM or Pinky, then the
material around that cavity must be able to withstand the pressure of the mold
making, if in doubt please Prestige
Models (just click on the back arrow on the menu bar to return back to this
site) |
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