Spokane Industries Updates Dust Collection Facilities

Spokane Industries is proud to announce a substantial update to it’s Dust Collection facilities for it’s Precision Investment Castings Division.  Installed by Filter Technologies, this improves capacity to a total of 38,000 cfm, an increase of 28,000 cfm over the previous system.  This new state-of-the-art system exemplifies Spokane Industries’ “Attitude of Excellence.” 

SPOKANE, WA – MAY 2013: 

As an industry leader committed to minimizing environmental impact,  maximizing conservation, and improving safety, Spokane Industries has tripled its dust collection capacity utilizing the highest standards in eco-friendly production practices.  A Filter Technologies Model 140 – 1.5 M PB Dust Collector was recently installed at it’s Spokane Investment Casting Division location – augmenting it’s existing Torit Downflo Model DF T4-16 dust collection system.

These upgrades cover all areas of the shop removing fine particulates and pollutants from any possible facility emissions, further purifying the air in the Investment Castings production facility and improving the comfort and safety for all of it’s employees. 

With a future expansion capacity of 11,000 cmf, this new equipment will handily manage the air purification needs in its newly acquired 10,000 sq. ft. expansion.

Visit our website at www.SpokaneIndustries.com to learn more about Spokane Industries and give us your feedback on our new upgrades by posting a comment on our Facebook page.

Chemistry and Metallurgy in the Investment Casting Industry

by Rick Price, Process Control Supervisor, Spokane Precision Castings Division of Spokane Industries

I've always been fascinated with metals. When I was a young child, I used to stoke up the campfire as a Boy Scout just to watch aluminum cans melt. All I knew about metals at that time was that aluminum and steel were different. As I worked different jobs at Spokane Industries I learned about different alloys, chemistry and metallurgy and how those elements affect the steel. Though I am not a metallurgist by trade, I have acquired a great depth of knowledge through my thirst for learning and a variety of avenues of study and research afforded me through my employment at Spokane Industries.

SPOKANE INDUSTRIES, through its Spokane Steel Castings, Spokane Metal Products and Spokane Precision Castings operations, has been providing customers around the world with cost effective solutions to their steel castings and industrial fabrication needs since 1952. Today, SPOKANE INDUSTRIES is a modern diversified company with plant and manufacturing facilities occupying more than 240,000 square feet. The company serves a large number of customers in many industries -- from aerospace, construction and agriculture, to transportation, aggregate processing, and manufacturing.

Alloy selection is a key factor when designing an investment casting. Strength, ductility, toughness, hardness, machinability, weldability, wear resistance and corrosion resistance are just a few of the design criteria that must be taken into consideration. In ferrous alloys for example, carbon plays an important role in determining strength and hardness. Other elements, such as molybdenum, chromium and nickel effect through hardness, or hardenability.

Chromium imparts corrosion and oxidation resistance in stainless steel when present in amounts greater than about 11%. Once the proper combination of various elements and weight percentages is determined, most alloys are then heat treated to attain the final properties. Castings are generally subjected to a high temperature soak, quenched at a pre-determined rate and then tempered at an intermediate temperature.

The chemistry of every heat of metal poured at Spokane Precision Castings is analyzed to insure that we meet customer specifications. Metal samples are taken at various stages throughout each heat and sparked in an optical emission spectrometer. During this process, each element emits a unique wavelength of light that is diffracted through a grating and directed to individual photomultiplier tubes. The measured light intensity is translated into a weight percentage for over a dozen elements. Each element has a range it must fall within for the metal to be in specification and to meet certain requirements.

Spokane Precision Castings runs this process on both a preliminary as well as a final sample to ensure consistency. We check chemistry, make alloy additions, pour the heat, and then test another button after the chemistry has been adjusted as the final chemistry for that heat. Our company is in the process of testing a new product to take a sample out of the stream of molten metal as it is being poured into the casting. This will improve our final chemistry analysis and results.

Currently, Spokane Precision Castings is working on creating a range of castings that would be made out of a cobalt-based alloy. Cobalt has many different properties than an iron-based alloy i.e. higher corrosion resistance, good wear properties, and is often used as medical implants.

As the company progresses, we want to improve Spokane Industries Quality Assurance efficiencies to transfer the knowledge of the Quality Assurance personnel to the technicians on the production floor. This constant push to resolve problems at the lowest level helps to rectify in process issues as they occur. We currently are implementing written and visual instructions to facilitate this transfer of knowledge and to augment our ongoing training and quest for continuous improvement.

Jeff Kuntz, Production Manager at Spokane Precision Castings Division of Spokane Industries states "to make a quality investment casting takes a great understanding of materials, a solid grasp on how those materials react with one another, a broad array of process controls and a quest for quality. Making a thousand castings as opposed to a single casting is key in understanding the investment casting industry. The investment casting process is very effective at producing consistent quality over a large run of parts. That being said, it is only true when the organization recognizes the dependency on tight process and quality controls in order to meet all customer demands as we do here at Spokane Precision Castings."

Spokane Precision Castings Division

Precision Investment Castings
by: Jeff Kuntz, Division Manger

Manufacturing Design Engineers often specify machining out of stock material, metal parts that in practicality would be more cost effective and efficiently produced as an Investment Casting. This happens because of the familiarity and abundance of machining facilities compared to the relatively small quantity and less understood advantages of Investment Casting operations. Similarly, parts designed as fabrications are often well suited to conversion to castings. In that never-ending quest to increase efficiencies and lower costs, companies are discovering the value Investment Castings can bring to their product lines.

SPOKANE INDUSTRIES, through our Precision Investment Castings Division, specializes in bringing near net shape casting production to the marketplace. SPOKANE PRECISION CASTINGS can minimize dimensional tolerances without machining or other subcontracting methods so that you may have a finished product ready for rapid assembly. We’re able to produce parts that weigh as little as a few grams up to 80 pounds. In many cases, injecting multiple pieces or several different parts in a single die saves additional operations and reduces costs.

SPOKANE PRECISION CASTINGS offers an almost endless array of alloys. Carbon Steels, Low Alloy, 17-4, Tool Steels, Precipitation Hardening Alloys, Silicon Brass, 300 and 400 Series Stainless Steels, and most other air melts are common. We offer an endless number of commercial applications from the food, automotive, dental, military, and oil industries, to name a few. Our real forte is to get involved at the engineering genesis by taking multiple metal components that may currently be machined or fabricated and design them together. We can then create a single near net shape casting. This eliminates multiple operations, saves time, energy and money - to bring savings to the bottom line for our customers.

Converting fabrications to castings brings a multitude of benefits to a manufacturer. Investment Castings can oftentimes be designed much stronger, with less material, creating less weight and at the same time lower failure rates. In addition, where there are multiple parts creating a fabrication, a single casting can often times be designed to do the entire job. This results in assembly time savings, lower overhead, simplified workflow and improves uniformity and aesthetics.

SPOKANE PRECISION CASTINGS workforce is highly cross-trained. Employees are encouraged to move from department to department throughout our production areas where strong visual and written controls facilitate process standardization. SPOKANE PRECISION CASTINGS has implemented Lean Manufacturing processes where continuous improvement is ongoing and reducing variables ultimately drives lower costs.

SPOKANE PRECISION CASTINGS is augmented by in-house capabilities including machining, x-ray, full dimensional layout, spectrometer and Non-Destructive Testing of mechanical properties. We also perform Magnetic Particle Inspection, liquid penetrant and utilize heat-treat facilities both internally and contractually.

SPOKANE PRECISION CASTINGS has been part of the Spokane Industries family for 18 years. SPOKANE INDUSTRIES, it’s parent company, has been in the foundry industry since the 1952. This offers full access to a large and diversified engineering department with the latest in CAD/CAM and Flow Test Analysis. We accept a large array of electonic files as well as your CAD/CAM files so that we can rapidly prototype and meet your specifications and schedules.

Jeff Kuntz, Spokane Precision Castings Production Manager states, “SPOKANE PRECISION CASTINGS has been working with industries from military grade castings – like Class II Armor Certified, to dental equipment castings with high esthetic appeal. We’re accustomed to producing quantities that range from low volume/high variety to commodity products that range up to 80 thousand Investment Castings every month. Our goal is to exceed the customers expectations at every opportunity.”

The combination of all of our in-house capabilities along with some local strategic partners help us stand alone in the marketplace and adds to our ability to help our customers meet their ever changing needs. Starting with our customers’ drawings and vision, we strive to meet all of your Investment Casting needs.

Bottom line – faster R and D, first articles get to you faster and ultimately saves you time and money. Isn’t that what it’s really all about?