2008 AFS/ECS casting competition: Carley Foundry's shiny blue oil tank took home this year's prize for Casting of the Year, but not just because it was pretty

Modern Casting, May, 2008

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That's when Carley was first tagged in. "When they first asked us to take a look, it was almost like a challenge was thrown out," Oehrlein said.

Initially, the metalcaster proposed a one-piece aluminum design with a core opening at its top. To achieve the oil passageways needed within the casting, internal machining and threaded component assembly would occur through the cored opening. This assembly also necessitated internal bosses, creating a large isolated mass of aluminum. Keeping in mind the manufacturing issues and noting the way an oil tank works, the team soon threw that idea out of the ring.

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Improving Circulation

The Rocker's oil tank operates essentially like a heart, drawing oil in and then resupplying it to the test of the motorcycles" vital parts. In the initial design presented by Carley, though, the off entering the tank was circulated in only a small section of the component before being redistributed.

Because of the limited size of the cored hole in that design, the oil channels could only be built in a small, pre-determined area.

"It was kind of like building a ship in a bottle," Oehrlein said.

This created two problems for the motorcycle producer--considerable wasted space existed within the tank, and the hot oil built heat as it circulated in a closed loop. With the tank located close to the motorcycle operator's leg, that heat would have posed an operational danger.

Fortunately, Carley tagged back in with the ability to cast the oil circulation tubes directly into the component. This reduced the isolated mass as well as solidification time in the remaining mass. With the space constraints of the core print opening eliminated, the tubes were constructed to span the length of the tank, and the oil could be circulated through off from the engine now gets pumped into a location away from the rider's leg, wraps around a corner and leaves from the other side.

Through another series of tagging in and out, Harley and Carley tackled numerous castability issues. They created ribs and bosses to retain the oil circulation tubes, added a riser to increase the feed and heat mass, added a cooling fin to enhance directional solidification, thickened certain design elements to aid in metal flow and feeding, and designed a waffle pattern on the component to increase surface area and enhance solidification.

"They selected us and said, 'we have the best tentative mousetrap, now let's work this down until everyone's happy,'" Oehrlein said.

Best-In-Class

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Material Handling Steering/Linkage Assembly

Piad Precision Casting Corp., Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Material: Brass.

Process: Permanent mold chill casting.

Weight: 9.82 lbs.

Dimensions: 10 x 8.5 x 6.7 in.

Application: Steering linkage for a pallet truck.

Converted from: Multi-piece weldment.

* The brass casting was redesigned from a weldment composed of 10 pre-fabricated pieces, 19 weld joints and four bushings, eliminating some machining and the need for stress relieving.