Housing Material vs. Fabricated

• Posted on Terry McCormick
• in news
• on April 7, 2020
• Comments Off on Housing Material vs. Fabricated

Housing Material vs. Fabricated

Cast-Iron is the preferred choice in Housing Material vs. Fabricated.  Not only does it exemplify a commitment to various market, but more importantly to our customers.  Several new entities into the markets will claim fabricated is better, but in reality, have taken a lower cost-approach with no increase in integrity, quality and utility.  Below are the advantages and reasons why Rj Link uses cast housings:

• The stress relieved housing has superior geometry for rigidity and support.
• Superior dampening and corrosion resistant properties.
• There is no dependency on pre/post-weld heat treatment.
• The manufacturing process only requires machining to tolerance dimensionally.
• The pouring, cooling process is dimensionally stable and complies with ASTM standards & specifications.
• This process has a long-standing acceptance in the industry.
• The ability to vary section thickness where required.

APPLICATION STORY:

A particular customer initially did not want to invest in temporary/permanent tooling.  Understanding there was an initial cost increase using a Casting vs. Fabricated, we looked at the system requirements to see what was acceptable.  Upon review of the surrounding installation site, we noticed the potential for severe vibration in the drive components. Based on our engineering experience, we knew that cast housing offered superior dampening properties to that of a fabricated housing, and thus would reduce vibration.   In addition, the unit was subject to a wet corrosive environment.   Lessons learned told us that a low carbon or alloy steel would not be acceptable, because it corrodes readily.  We submitted our recommendations to our customer to verify with the end user.  End result was that a Cast Housing was the only solution, using a temporary foam pattern to help reduce the cost.

FOLLOWING MARKETS/APPLICATIONS FOR THESE TYPES OF ARRANGEMENTS:

• Agricultural
• Marine
• Construction/Mining
• Military
• Municipal
• Off-Road & Specialty Vehicles
• Transportation, etc.