Inserts For Die Casting Tooling

Inserts For Die Casting Tooling. There are four types of die cast tools. These are: the single cavity die, the multiple cavity die, the unit die and the combination die. However, all of these dies may have one thing in common. These may be using smaller pieces of metals called inserts. With the advancement in the designing process, many of the more sophisticated die casting tooling can now be fabricated successfully using these smaller pieces of metal. Although these may look nothing more than thin rods of material or even a blob of metal (literally) inserted in the die, inserts are probably the best and most economical way of creating sophisticated cast die pieces.

The main purpose of inserts is to create the holes or the running tubes within the piece. In earlier times, these holes or tubes can only be “placed” within a finished piece by manually or mechanically gouging it out. Needless to say, this can be a pricey affair especially if you consider the actual cost of hiring either skilled workmen to drill the holes or buying machines for the same purpose. Also this practice was subject to a lot of errors and therefore not feasible for mass production – especially when quality control is very rigid.

Fortunately, inserts can now be easily accommodated in most cast die machines. The material used for inserts depend on the actual materials being processed by the machines. As a rule hot chamber machines use molten materials with lower melting points like copper, lead, magnesium and even zinc. On the other hand, cold chamber machines use mainly aluminum or aluminum based alloys which have higher melting points. The inserts are made from the same materials as the actual die, usually steel alloys, but these are reinforced to make sure that metal erosion does not take place during the actual production stage.