July 15, 2009 by NADCA in NADCA News
Wheeling, IL – Each year since 1973, NADCA has sponsored its International Die Casting Design Competition to showcase outstanding die cast designs while acknowledging the continuous contribution die casters provide to the manufacturing industry.
Eight winners were chosen this year and were on display at the 113th Metalcasting Congress in Las Vegas, NV, in April. The top eight submissions and two honorable mention winners represented a range of products touting innovative designs and a vast array of applications.
“For this year’s competition, there was no sign of slow down in the area of innovation and pushing the limits of what the die casting process is capable of achieving. Many of the winning die castings utilized revolutionary part and die designs,” said NADCA design engineer Dan Meyer. “The die designs allowed production of die castings that greatly increased yields on many fronts. Methods such as automatic de-gating, direct injection, multiple-cavity dies for complex high tolerance parts, as well as new gating and die designs requiring minimal or no machining of the final die casting, were some of the areas die casters showed their applied creativity.”
The winners were Aluminum Complex Components Inc. for the Aluminum Squeeze/Semi Solid category; Chicago White Metal Casting Inc. for the Aluminum under 1 lb., Aluminum 1 to 10 lb. and Magnesium over .5 lb. categories; Pace Industries – St. Paul Div. for the Aluminum over 10 lb.; Phillips Plastics Corp. – Magnesium Injection Molding for the Magnesium under .5 lb. category; Cast Products Inc. for the Zinc under 6 oz. Non-Electroplated category; and Caudle Manufacturing Co. Inc. for the Zinc over 6 oz. Non-Electroplated category. Honorable mentions went to Aallied Die Casting Co. of North Carolina and Blue Ridge Pressure Castings Inc.
Submitted castings were reviewed by a panel of independent judges from which winners are selected. Categories were grouped by material and include aluminum, zinc and magnesium. For each category, a die casting is evaluated based on ingenuity of casting and product design, overall quality, cost savings and contribution to expanding the market for die casting.
NADCA wishes to thank all the die casters who submitted their entries in the 2009 competition, while congratulating the winners.
For more information on the 2009 International Die Casting Design Competition, visit www.diecastingdesign.org.