Green Sand Casting Services
Green Sand Casting Services
Green sand casting is an efficient molding process that utilizes sand as the main molding material. This casting method is referred to as “green” since the sand is recyclable and there are no chemical additives in the sand, just clay, water, and sand. The moisture content within the molds provides the binding structure for the sand.
General Foundry’s proprietary blend of sand, water, and clay is ideal for industry-leading sand casting tolerances and surface finish. As a base for our green sand, we utilize extremely fine-grained olivine-based sand that is mined from Washington state. We can produce repeatable and aesthetically pleasing sand castings in as little as 2-4 weeks. Our full-scale turnkey operations include our own in-house pattern shop and machine shop, providing a best-in-class, one-stop-shop customer experience.
Green Sand Casting Process
At General Foundry we specialize in producing sand castings with tight tolerances and stringent cosmetic surfaces. We produce a wide range of cosmetic, customer-facing geometries; from handles to LCD screen shrouds, you will not believe it’s a casting on the device. The processes for our green sand casting include the following elements:
- Create shell or CO2 cores (if needed)
- Pack sand against the positive pattern on both sides of the tool
- Remove mold halves from the tool
- Insert any cores in mold halves (creating undercuts and/or hollow features)
- Close mold halves on top of each other and pour metal
- Shake out (off) sand from the solid metal geometry
Green Sand Casting Advantages
Due to its consistent, repeatable nature, green sand casting has been utilized as a casting resource for several hundred years. Some of the distinct advantages that green sand casting provides include the following:
- Low-cost production method
- Can be utilized for low, medium and high production means
- Affordable tooling costs
- Prototypes can be manufactured quickly
- Tooling accommodates design changes
- Creates complex geometries
