About Us - Cast in Style
Meet the team
Cast in Style is a family run company.
Cast in Style has a common belief in providing the highest quality products we can. We have been in the cast iron industry for many years and have been able to acquire a vast range of original patterns, many of which are over 150 years old. We are a quality company with a reputation to uphold, that is why we pride ourselves on the quality of the products that we produce. We are based in Shropshire, England, renowned for its foundries and close to where the cast iron industry was forged in Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge nearly 350 years ago, which has a worldwide reputation in the cast iron industry dating back to Thomas Telford. How does it all come together, take a look below.
Born of Fire and Stone
How our Castings are Made
Stage 1
Patterns used for making the sand moulds can take weeks or months to develop. Patterns can be hand made by carving wood to computer designed and pre fabricated. In the example a pattern of our classic airer ends is being used to make a sand cast mould. The picture is of the lower part of the mould. This part is dusted and an upper part is attached to it to be filled with sand below.
Stage 2
The pattern is impressed into the special sand. The sand is a mixture of a fine sand and oil which gives a perfect impression. The moulder will fill the "Matchbox" sand tray and pad the sand down each time until the box is full. In these pictures he is filling the upper part of the mould. The two half will easily come apart because of the powder applied in the stage above.
Stage 3
The lower and upper parts of the mould are separated and the pattern is removed from the sand box. The mould now has a perfect impression of the original pattern. A running system is carved into the sand for the molten iron to be poured into and flow into the impression of the airer. On the right picture small gas escape holes are made. Molten metal produces a lot of gas which must be able to escape from the mould.
Stage 4
Finally a pouring entrance hold is made and enlarged. This will be used to pour the iron through and into the mould. The completed mould is placed on the floor ready for the iron. A heavy weight is placed on the top of it. This is important as it holds the sand together as the hot iron is poured into it. As the gasses escape from the mould they can cause it to explode. The weight prevents this from happening.
Stage 5
The furnace is now up to temperature. This is about 700 degrees for Aluminium. 900-950 for Brass and 1600-1650 for Cast Iron. This furnace is gas fired. A crucible inside, made of pot, contained the iron which will be ready to pour. Impurities from the iron will float to the top and will be ladled off before pouring.
Stage 6
The molten iron is poured into the moulds. It is very heavy and very hot. The pour must be done quickly and accurately with an even constant flow otherwise the casting will miss run and will be scrap. You can see in the picture on the right the hot gasses escaping at high speed from the gas escape holes made earlier.
Stage 7
The iron will set in a few minutes. It will remain hot for hours and will be 3-4 hours before you can touch it. The casting is removed from the sand mould still steaming.
Stage 8
The extracted casting is rough round the edges and needs to be fettled and filed to clean it up. The running system also needs removing from it. It is also sand blasted to remove and small imperfections. Once all this is done, the casing is usually powder coated to protect it and give it a tough hard coating which will last a lifetime