SHOW PREVIEW
THE SUPREME OPTION IN
CASTING AND PROTOTYPING
There’s little doubt that visitors to EMEX 2018 will have a wide array of stands to get through, but one they should target is
Supreme Metal Component Solutions on stand ET25.
In fact, the company is so sure it can
innovate to a customer’s needs that it
has ‘solutions’ in its name.
With more than 30-years of
investment casting under its belt, the
company sees innovation as its key
asset along with experienced staff
who can do just that - innovate.
One facet not overlooked is the
continual evolution of the ‘how’, with
new technologies playing a major role
in its offering to the market.
With this in mind, Supreme Metal has
partnered to increase its solutions
scope, now able to offer rapid tooling
to provide a far more effective process
for its customer base.
The Auckland-based company
operates lean, with tight process
control, fast throughput and excellent
internal quality control. Keeping things
tight is an absolute intention meaning
that savings can be passed on to
its customers – and it’s been doing
business this way since 1984 on a
local and an international leve.
And in true Kiwi spirit, Supreme fights
well above its weight. Delivery and
communication are where it starts to
win the war and when it comes to
specialty services, the ‘sweet spot’
comes when it’s time for complex
shapes and difficult alloys.
The company regularly manufactures
castings conforming to many specifications.
According to the company, it’s
the innovation in projects and the
extra-mile attitude that lifts them
another gear. Here are two cases
in point…
SEE US AT
STAND ET25
Trencher chain project
Forty-two chain links are used on a
trenching machine that cuts through
rock using carbide picks.
The customer wanted to replace
two fabrications, a four piece weld
assembly and an eight piece weld
assembly. Fabrication involved five
sub-contractors meaning a lead
time of at least three to four months.
Fabrication also limited alloy choice so
wear and breakages were an issue.
Supreme were asked to improve on
the chain.
Supremes’ and the customer’s
designers combined to come up with
a one-piece chain link casting instead
of two fabrications. A wax assembly
method provided a simple solution to
create six different pick configurations.
This required one wax die for the main
body and one for the pick. The pick
holder bore tolerance was fine as-cast
so machining was not required.
Supreme supplied the finished parts
and our lead time was six weeks.
The wear and strength question was
solved using a work hardening metal.
The first contract the chain tackled
was cutting hard rock in Tasmania for
three months. Customer comment
February 2016: “The chain looked as
good as new after this contract. We
are extremely happy with the result.”
Making casting from 3D
models
Supreme first became aware of
making castings from 3D prints at a
foundry conference in the USA about
20 years ago. It was very expensive
then but has now become a very
useful tool for prototyping castings.
First a pattern is built from a 3D
model. This pattern can be made
either from printed wax, PLA,
Quickcast SLA or machined from high
density foam. The finished pattern is
then coated with ceramic.
Finally, the ceramic shell is fired to
remove the pattern so molten metal
can be poured into the shell. These
steps seem straightforward but
Supreme has invested many hours of
R&D to achieve complete removal of
the pattern and accurate dimensions
and can offer very reliable results using
this method.
Customer comment: “We achieved a
great result in the machine shop last
week largely due to the exceptional
accuracy and quality of the castings.
The trueness of the tapered bore is
quite remarkable.”
+64 09 276 5335 | 0800 5678 929 | enquiry@smcs.com | www.smcs.com
58 April 2018
/www.smcs.com
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