Aluminum heat sinks expels heat from parts and components in electronic applications. Aluminum die cast heatsinks are designed in a way that needs less machining than other manufacturing processes. The cooling fins can be manufactured at the same time as …
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Die Casting Aluminum Lighting Fixtures
Die Casting Aluminum Lighting Fixtures. In any house, building and other man made structure that is covered or in the dark, it will need artificial lighting so that it becomes hospitable and safe. Both outdoor and indoor lighting is essential in any place where people reside because people rely on light to get things done. For those which don’t receive any natural lighting, Aluminum Lighting Fixtures are the solution to this problem. Most, if not all housing and buildings make use of this feature and aluminum is a great choice for this because it is light in weight so that it can easily be installed or replaced and at the same time, it is durable so it will last longer.
Of course, Aluminum Lighting Fixtures should be made in vast quantities at a time because structures, especially buildings, would require a lot of these artificial lighting equipments. To achieve this, the best method in creating lighting fixtures is with die casting. This process can turn the aluminum into the finished product in no time as the metal is melted and using molds and castings, can be structured into the proper shapes and sizes.
When it comes to Aluminum Lighting Fixtures, die casting is the cheapest, most reliable way to achieve high quality results. And since this method makes use of the same mold, the resulting products are always consistent when it comes to the dimensions and the quality. Fast and efficient, die casting has become very popular not only with making Aluminum Lighting Fixtures, but with other parts as well.
GM Automotive Reneges Opel Automotive Deal
Thursday, November 5, 2009
By Joe Brown
Without full details or even a reasonable explanation from General Motors Automotive, many people are scratching their heads as to why the all-but-signed deal to sell their subsidiary, Opel to parts-maker Magna, fell through.
Was it driven by the report that came out today stating October was the carmaker’s best year over year in a long time? I hope not. Regardless of the dynamics of the decision, I think this will go down as a key lesson in future business textbooks and case studies about the dangers of mixing Wall Street with Capitol Hill.
At this moment, our friends in Germany fall somewhere between annoyed and completely miffed. The thought–at least according to German workers–is that GM will likely make more cuts than Opel would have. Further, officials orchestrated a “bridge loan” to ensure Opel’s solvency while a buyer was found which they thought was finalized when Magna’s aspirations to become an even bigger player than it already was.
My concern lies with the solid relationship America had fostered with Germany may be strained slightly. The U.S. government is now the majority owner of GM (although they immediately issued a statement attempting to wash their hands of having any input in the decision) and their close ally is Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
The Chancellor and her cabinet had strongly supported and worked feverishly on doing whatever it took to make this deal happen. Now, her office felt completely blindsided by this and I bet only stronger and more critical comments will be out from them in the coming days. One official from Merkel’s office stated that she is considering a call to President Obama to voice her displeasure.
“After many promises and months of negotiations, GM has left workers out in the cold. This attitude from General Motors shows the ugly face of turbo capitalism. It is completely unacceptable,” according to the Chancellor’s deputy leader, Juergen Ruettgers.
True to the old adage, you can’t please them all; the US finds itself smack in the middle of a situation they probably didn’t realize before becoming a majority shareholder of a giant company. Even Russia–strong supporters of the Opel-Magna deal–released a statement from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s office calling the decision, “absolutely astonishing.”
I worry that it may be difficult for our government to save face despite the best public relations money can buy stating they had no influence on this decision (which I do believe) yet they are technically the majority owner of the company. When’s the last time you heard of a group with a controlling interest (51 %+) in an organization not have any influence on a decision of this magnitude? It just doesn’t happen and is quite the conundrum.
Now, GM execs are scrambling to update a new restructuring plan for Opel and Vauxhall.
Magnesium Compared to Zinc
Magnesium Compared to Zinc – Die Casting Characteristics. Die casting has been getting lots of attention lately for its overall usefulness to the manufacturing process. How much it lessens production costs and production time has been proven to be very significant.
However, the metal being used for the die casting process has always been under debate. Both magnesium and zinc have their own properties which make manufacturers choose one over the other. Magnesium compared to zinc – what does one have as an advantage over the other?
Zinc is agreed upon by manufacturers as the easiest alloy to cast because it has very high ductility. Molten zinc can easily be stretched and shaped into the molds used for die casting. Zinc also has high impact strength, for die casts which need a lot of pounding and shaping to form.
Magnesium, on the other hand, is the easiest alloy to machine. After the die casting process, once the mold has done its job, machining is required for the finer details, and this is where magnesium shines because of its softness to machine over zinc. It is also much lighter than zinc, which is very important in the current trends of industry where lighter is better.
On paper, magnesium compared to zinc looks like a better metal to use in die casting. However, it is still of course up to the manufacturer which alloy to use for the process.
Military Lower Tier Suppliers Experiencing Same Frustrations as Automotive
Defense industrial base identifies with general manufacturing, tooling misconceptions
Friday, November 6, 2009
By Joe Brown
Military Lower Tier Suppliers Experiencing Same Frustrations as Automotive
Military suppliers and the industrial base they are a part of, currently face similar circumstances to those in the Machine, Tool, Die and Mold (MTDM) sectors. Like several previous articles in T&D, the mass misunderstandings about the importance of a viable manufacturing base in the U.S. do not exist in a vacuum.
Many in the MTDM industry are clamoring for a new “manufacturing policy” in America to prevent mistakes of past generations which have eroded crucial functions of manufacturing. What I found interesting is the increasingly louder whispers in Military and Defense supplier-circles debating the potential need for a new “industrial policy” mandated from the Pentagon to stem the rising uncertainty several suppliers–including certain MTDMs.
A recent article from the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) military manufacturing publication, National Defense Magazine, caught my attention because of the fundamental flaws in perception are exactly the same in Defense tooling as it is in Automotive.
The Pentagon is concerned with the sustainability of certain suppliers if they don’t have programs to keep them busy. They know there are specific skills and trades in the supply chain that must be salvaged. They just don’t know which ones…..
“The engineering and weapons-design work force is a critical asset that the Pentagon can’t afford to lose, but nobody really has defined what specific skills within that work force are the essential ones to keep,” according to Gerald Abbott, professor emeritus at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
Two elephants-in-the-rooms in MTDM for quite some time have been the aging workforce and ever-widening gap in the skilled trades’ labor pool. Government and Military suppliers can attest to that.
Source: Toolanddieing
Posted in Business
Tagged American Business, Business, Military Die Castings, Military Parts
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Take the heat off with aluminum heatsinks
Take the heat off with aluminum heatsinks. Aluminum heatsinks are among die casting products with wide applications in consumer goods. In fact, as you are reading this in your PC, an aluminum heatsink part is most likely working for you. An aluminum heat sink is the component built sitting on top of the circuit board of a computer’s CPU to prevent overheating and damage to the circuits.
What aluminum heat sinks do is take the heat off from the computer’s board because the material that this die casting is made has good thermal conductivity. Aluminum use as die casting material is also advantageous because it is very light, making aluminum heatsinks a necessary component for both desktop and laptop computers.
Aluminum heat sinks are also useful in thermal management of refrigeration systems. Heat is removed from the enclosed refrigerator space and shifted somewhere else for a more efficient operation. For several years, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in North America have sourcing such components as aluminum heatsinks from overseas die casting companies because of cost considerations.
However, things have changed lately as the OEMs have realized that the sourcing die casting components, such aluminum heatsinks, from overseas suppliers is not cost-effective after all. There are quality issues in die casting products manufactured overseas. In addition, there are logistical problems with overseas suppliers, making US die casting companies more attractive as local production partners. A more serious concern is confidentiality. For instance, a computer manufacturer may have to reveal product specifications, technological know-how and marketing information to its foreign supplier of aluminum heatsinks, a leak that could be tapped by competitors either at home or abroad.
