How do I know whether Horizontal or Vertical Centrifugal Casting is right for my foundry?

The two main classes of centrifugal casting machines are horizontal and vertical.  How do you know which one will suit your product?

The horizontal method means that a mold, or die, spins about a horizontal axis.  This occurs with the mold, or die, sitting on four trunnion wheels, the mold being mounted to a single faceplate or a mold, or die, being clamped between two faces.

The vertical casting method means that a spinning die spins about a vertical axis.   The two types of vertical machinery are:  above ground and pit mounted.  Typically, a smaller casting is cast on an above ground machine.  These machines are often used for Research and Development or small batches of small castings.

Pit mounted vertical machinery is used for castings greater than 20” (508 mm) in Outside Diameter and 12” (304 mm).  These machines are mounted below ground and offer a lot of flexibility for cylindrical shaped castings as well as non-traditional shaped castings.

The best machine type on which to cast your casting depends on a couple of factors.

1. Its size: Outside Diameter, Inside Diameter, and Height, or Length.
2. Its weight: CCMCO machinery within the horizontal and vertical categories are based on spin load.
3. Its shape: Is this casting cylindrical in shape, like a tube or sleeve? Or, is it what we would consider a non-traditional centrifugal casting part, like a sprocket, gear or propeller?

A general rule of thumb is that a casting that is longer than its diameter is wide is cast using the horizontal centrifugal casting process.  Other castings are cast vertically.