Online Catalogue last updated 17th of September 2023
Basic die casting has been practised by jewellers for centuries. It's essentially the process that Gutenberg used to manufacture type. But that was simple gravity feed.
In 1847 Bruce invented the high speed typecaster. He used a pot of molten type metal in which a cylinder and piston were immersed. Metal was forced into the permanent molds under pressure.
Pressure die casting wasn't used much until World War I forced the Brits to find new ways of manufacturing armaments. It didn't take them long to realize how useful a technique it could be.
Here you get nine articles written between 1922 and 1926 when die casting was still a simple process and the technical magazines were encouraging others in the industry to adopt it.
These articles were chosen in order to reveal the broad fundamentals: the casting machine, the alloys used, the dies and how they were made and used, and potential problems. It covers a lot of ground. It's aimed at the post-WW I beginner.
If you melt and pour aluminium, you'll find the comments on the casting of aluminium alloys useful: how they are handled and degassed, precautions about temperature, absorption of iron, etc.
Good old pot metal - zinc, lead, tin, Babbitt, typemetal - are examined here, along with aluminium. You also get revealing photos and drawings of die casters, dies, and castings. Worthwhile for anyone who pours metal.
Code No. 008838