A fluid-fitting body for a servo sensor was fully machined from bar stock. We rebuilt it as an ADC12 casting with machined sealing faces, and die casting reduced the finished cost by 45% without losing pressure-tight performance.
These symptoms show up on a costed routing sheet before anything is changed.
A fluid passage inside a servo end fitting is a bore, not a bearing seat. Cutting it from solid bar means removing 60–70% of the stock as chips. That is spindle time you pay for twice: once in material, once in tool wear.
Each new port, boss or mounting ear adds a setup or a re-fixture. A three-port body that ran in 22 minutes becomes a 40-minute part once the fourth port arrives. Volume demand then turns cycle time into a capacity problem, not just a cost problem.
Fully machined bodies buy material by the cubic centimeter and throw most of it away. When a single fitting consumes 0.4 kg of bar to deliver a 0.13 kg part, the material line on the quote tracks the metal market instead of your process.
Machined capacity scales in whole machines. If a program needs 30,000 fittings a year, you either add a shift, add a machine, or add a supplier. Casting scales in tooling and cycle seconds, which is a different curve entirely.
Keep the sealing faces and threads machined. Let the mold form everything else.
The original fitting had 6 mm walls because that is what bar stock gives you for free. Cast walls came down to 2.5 mm nominal, held between 2.0 and 3.5 mm across the body. That single change removed most of the metal that used to become chips.
Draft is the other lever. We asked for 1.5° on the outer walls and 1° on internal passages, with 0.5 mm minimum radii at every corner. Sharp internal corners crack the die and trap porosity, so the fillets are not cosmetic.
Only three features on this fitting actually need tight tolerance: the sealing face, the threaded port, and the sensor seat bore. Everything else is a passage or a mounting surface. We cast those three features with 0.4 mm stock and finish them in one 5-axis setup.
That setup is where the ±0.005 mm lives. A single OP10 clamp holds the casting on the as-cast datum pads, so the sealing face, the seat bore and the port thread share one origin. No stack-up between operations, and no re-chucking marks.
Same part number, same function, two different process routes.
| Item | Fully machined | Cast and finish |
|---|---|---|
| Raw material | 6061 bar, 0.40 kg per part | ADC12 ingot, 0.13 kg per part |
| Forming cycle | 22–40 min of spindle time | 45–70 s per shot |
| Secondary ops | 3–5 setups | 1 fixtured 5-axis setup |
| Chip volume | High, most stock removed | Low, near-net shape |
| Tooling cost | Fixtures only | One die, amortized over volume |
| Best volume band | Under ~2,000 parts per year | Over ~5,000 parts per year |
| Tolerance, sealing face | ±0.005 mm | ±0.005 mm, same spec |
A casting program usually needs more than a die and a press.
ADC12, A380 and magnesium AZ91D in vacuum-assist dies. Cast features to near-net shape, then finish the functional ones.
16 simultaneous 5-axis centers. One setup for sealing faces, bores and threads on cast bodies.
Mill-turn centers for fittings that need a turned port on a cast body, held in a single program.
Machined or printed fit-check parts before the die is cut, so the geometry is proven first.
Anodizing, electroless nickel, powder coat, bead blasting. Plating on cast alloy needs the right pre-treat.
Urethane and silicone tooling for low-volume housings when a production die is not justified yet.
Numbers below are what the shop floor can hold, not a best case.
| Parameter | Capability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alloys | ADC12, A380, AZ91D | Aluminum and magnesium families |
| Minimum wall | 2.0 mm | 2.5 mm nominal is safer for flow |
| As-cast tolerance | ±0.1 mm typical | Draft and shrinkage included |
| Machined tolerance | ±0.005 mm | On sealing faces and bores |
| Surface finish | Ra 0.8–1.6 μm | On machined faces, as specified |
| Max part envelope | Up to 4,000 mm | Larger frames on request |
| Lot size | 1 to 10,000+ parts | No minimum order quantity |
| Inspection | 100% before shipment | Reports on request |
The data below is what we hold ourselves to on every casting job.
Founded in 2011. Three wholly-owned plants and 7,600 m² of floor space, most of it under one quality system.
Drawings get a manufacturability review within 12 hours, including draft, wall and parting-line feedback.
Parts that pass final inspection on the first submission. Castings are checked at the die, after trim and after machining.
16 five-axis, 12 four-axis, 27 three-axis and 16 mill-turn centers. Castings move to finish machining without a truck ride.
ISO 9001:2015, IATF 16949:2016, ISO 13485:2016 and ISO 27001:2022 cover automotive, medical and data handling.
Below 2% across recorded shipments. Production can start within 24 hours of a released order.
Pressure-tight bodies with threaded ports and a machined seat bore.
Coolant and hydraulic bodies where wall thickness drives weight.
Cast plates and brackets with machined mounting faces.
Load-bearing castings that need bores held to a common datum.
Look at two numbers: annual volume and the ratio of removed stock to finished weight. If a part loses more than half its bar weight as chips and you need more than roughly 5,000 pieces a year, casting usually wins.
Below about 2,000 pieces a year, tooling amortization keeps machining cheaper. Between those bands it depends on how many features can stay as-cast.
2.0 mm is the floor for a clean fill on a small fitting. We design at 2.5 mm nominal because it gives the metal room to flow and keeps porosity low at the far end of the cavity.
Walls should stay within a 2.0–3.5 mm band across the part. Mixing a 2 mm wall next to an 8 mm boss creates a hot spot that shrinks differently and pulls the part out of flat.
Anything that seals, threads, presses or locates a sensor. On this fitting that was the sealing face, the port thread and the seat bore.
Everything else, including passages, mounting ears and outer contours, comes out of the die. We leave 0.4 mm of stock on machined features and nothing on as-cast surfaces.
Not on the casting. The casting is located, not measured. Cast datum pads give a 3-2-1 position in OP10, and every tight feature is cut from that one origin in a single 5-axis setup.
That removes operation-to-operation stack-up. If a feature is cut in the same clamp as its datum, the casting's as-cast tolerance stops mattering for that dimension.
Porosity is the risk, and it is managed in three places: vacuum-assist during the shot, wall thickness rules that avoid hot spots, and a machined sealing face that cuts through the skin.
We inspect before shipment and can supply reports on request. Castings that will see pressure get checked after machining, not just after trim.
Tooling cost tracks part size, number of slides and how many features need machining. We quote it against your actual geometry rather than a catalog rate.
A quotation and free DFM analysis come back within 12 hours of receiving a drawing. Production can start within 24 hours once the order and tooling are released.
Yes. Castings move from the die to one of 127 CNC machines on the same site, including 16 simultaneous 5-axis centers and 16 mill-turn centers.
That means one purchase order, one quality record and one shipment. Parts ship in 3–5 days for standard first articles.
No. We run from a single prototype to 10,000+ part runs.
For prototypes we often machine the geometry first to prove the function, then cut the die once the design is frozen. Uploads are secure and an NDA is available on request.
Upload a drawing or STEP file and we will return a quote with DFM notes, draft and wall-thickness feedback, and a machined-versus-cast comparison.
12-hour quote100% inspection before shipmentNo minimum order quantityNDA on request
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