Die Casting Services

Alloy selection depends on operating temperature, structural load, weight target, and finish requirements.

Aluminum A380 is the default for most general die casting. It combines good castability, 320 MPa tensile strength, and low cost. A356 is heat-treatable (T6 temper) for higher strength in structural parts. A413 is preferred for thin walls and pressure-tight castings.

Zinc Zamak 3 is the industry standard for small precision parts where surface finish and fine detail matter. Its low melting point enables hot chamber processing with cycle times near 20 seconds. ZA-27 provides higher tensile strength (425 MPa) and bearing performance.

Magnesium AZ91D is specified when weight is critical. At 1.8 g/cm³ density it is 33 percent lighter than aluminum, with good stiffness-to-weight for aerospace and portable electronics housings.

If you are unsure which alloy to specify, our engineering team can recommend the right option during the DFM review based on your part’s load, temperature, and finish requirements.

Hot chamber and cold chamber die casting differ in how molten metal reaches the die and which alloys each can handle.

Hot chamber machines keep the alloy molten inside a crucible built into the press. A gooseneck submerged in the melt injects metal into the die each cycle. This enables short 10 to 30 second cycles, but restricts the process to low-melting alloys that do not corrode the steel gooseneck. Zinc, Zamak, and certain magnesium alloys are cast on hot chamber machines.

Cold chamber machines melt the alloy in a separate furnace. Each cycle, an operator or robot ladles a shot of metal into the cold shot sleeve, which is then pushed into the die under pressures of 70 to 175 MPa. The extra transfer step makes cycle times longer (30 to 90 seconds), but it allows higher-melting alloys like aluminum and brass that would attack a hot chamber gooseneck.

Aluminum die casting is always cold chamber. Zinc and magnesium can run on either, depending on part size and production volume.

Yes. Most die castings require at least one secondary operation before they ship.

CNC machining is the most common post-casting step. Features like threaded holes, sealing surfaces, and bearing bores hold ±0.02 mm after machining, compared with ±0.05 mm on as-cast features. Machining datums should be cast into the part during tooling design.

Plating and painting are applied for corrosion and appearance. Powder coating, anodizing (aluminum only), chromate conversion, chrome plating, and wet paint are all available in-house. Powder coat delivers 500 to 1,000 hours of salt spray on aluminum.

Vacuum impregnation is available for pressure-tight castings used in hydraulics, pneumatics, and fluid handling. This process fills microporosity with a sealant cured inside the part.

Decide on finish requirements during the DFM review. Some finishes need dedicated jigging points or non-cosmetic witness areas that are cheaper to design into the tool than to add later.

Die casting alloys fall into four main families: aluminum, zinc, magnesium, and copper-based.

Aluminum alloys make up the bulk of die casting production. A380 is the workhorse for general parts. A356 and A357 are heat-treatable for structural applications. ADC12 is the Japanese equivalent widely used in automotive. A413 is a fluid-casting alloy for thin walls.

Zinc alloys include Zamak 3, Zamak 5, and Zamak 7 for general precision parts, and the ZA series (ZA-8, ZA-12, ZA-27) where higher tensile strength or bearing wear resistance is needed.

Magnesium AZ91D is the most common die-cast magnesium. AM60B and AM50A offer improved ductility for impact-loaded parts such as steering wheel armatures.

Copper-based alloys (brass C85400, aluminum bronze C95400) are typically gravity cast rather than pressure cast, and are specified for plumbing fittings, marine hardware, and decorative architectural parts.

Alloy selection should match the part’s mechanical load, operating environment, finish requirements, and target production volume. Our DFM review can recommend the best alloy for your application before tooling design begins.

We cast parts from 10 g to 15 kg as-cast, across machines ranging from 80 to 3,000 tons of clamping force.

Small parts under 100 g, such as connector housings and precision hardware, run on hot chamber zinc presses (80 to 250 tons). Cycle times are near 20 seconds, which makes these machines the cost leader for high-volume small parts.

Mid-size parts from 100 g to 5 kg, including automotive brackets, appliance housings, and electronics enclosures, run on 400 to 1,200 ton cold chamber aluminum presses. This is where most production programs land.

Large structural castings from 5 kg to 15 kg, such as transmission housings and EV battery components, run on 1,600 to 3,000 ton cold chamber machines. Wall thickness and alloy selection become the limiting factors above 10 kg.

Wall thickness drives tonnage requirements. Thin walls need higher fill speeds and pressures, so the press must have adequate projected-area capacity. Specify size, weight, and wall thickness early so we can match the right machine during quoting.

Five design choices drive castability, tool life, and unit cost more than any others.

Wall thickness should be uniform across the part. Target 1.5 to 3 mm for most aluminum castings and 0.8 to 2 mm for zinc. Uneven walls cause differential solidification, which leads to shrinkage porosity and internal voids.

Draft angles are required for ejection. Minimum 1 degree for zinc, 1.5 degrees for aluminum, and 2 to 3 degrees for deep cores or complex geometries. Inadequate draft increases ejection force and shortens tool life.

Fillets and radii relieve stress concentrations at corners. Minimum internal radius 0.5 mm for zinc and 1 mm for aluminum. Sharp inside corners cause hot spots during solidification and crack initiation under load.

Parting line placement determines where flash forms and which surfaces can carry cosmetic finishes. Put the parting line on non-functional surfaces and away from sealing faces or cosmetic A-surfaces.

Gate and runner design control how molten metal fills the die. These are engineered during tool design, not by the part designer, but part geometry influences how many gates are needed and where they can go.

Our DFM review covers all five of these points before tool cutting begins.

Die casting dimensional accuracy depends on feature location, alloy, and whether the part is post-machined.

As-cast features on the same side of the parting line hold ±0.05 mm on dimensions up to 25 mm, and ±0.1 mm on larger dimensions up to 150 mm. These are the tightest as-cast tolerances you can expect without machining.

Cross-parting dimensions, which span the mold split line, add the parting line tolerance to the base tolerance. Expect ±0.15 mm on cross-parting dimensions. The mold fit and flash allowance both contribute.

Machined features replace cast tolerances with machined tolerances: ±0.02 mm on diameters, ±0.05 mm on lengths, and surface finish down to Ra 0.8 micrometer. Features that need tight fits, sealing surfaces, or threaded holes should always be machined.

Threads cast directly into a die casting are rare. Use thread-forming inserts, tap the threads after casting, or design for self-tapping screws. Direct-cast threads are only viable on zinc and only where a Class 2B fit is acceptable.

Flag critical dimensions on your drawing so they can be reviewed for castability or machining allowance before tool cutting. Over-specifying every dimension drives up tool cost without improving part performance.

Die cast parts typically pass through seven process stages between design and shipment.

1. Tooling Design and Build: H13 or SKD61 tool steel dies with cooling channels, ejectors, and slides. Single-cavity for prototypes and low volumes, multi-cavity for production.

2. Hot Chamber Casting: Zinc and magnesium parts up to about 2 kg. Cycles near 20 seconds. Lowest per-part cost for small, high-volume precision parts.

3. Cold Chamber Casting: Aluminum, brass, and higher-melting alloys. Cycles 30 to 90 seconds. Required for most automotive and industrial die castings.

4. Trimming and Deflashing: Hydraulic trim dies remove sprue and runners. Vibratory deburring removes parting-line flash. Manual deburring for complex geometries.

5. CNC Machining: Milling and turning for threads, sealing surfaces, and tight-tolerance features. Integrated with casting on the same traveler and quality system.

6. Surface Finishing: Powder coating, anodizing (aluminum), chromate conversion, electroplating, and wet paint. Applied in-house under the same quality system as casting.

7. Inspection and Testing: CMM dimensional inspection, X-ray for internal porosity on critical parts, spectrographic alloy verification, and mechanical testing (tensile, hardness, salt spray) where specified.

A full-service die casting partner combines these seven stages under one roof, which removes the coordination overhead of managing separate tool shops, casting houses, machine shops, and platers.