IRON FOUNDRY PRACTICES
Iron foundry practices have changed dramatically over the years to accommodate higher production rates. Many iron foundries changed their main production equipment to high volume, lower skill techniques to meet the demand of ever increasing quantities. While this has given the benefits of lower costs on very high volume castings, there are still niche areas where the more traditional, highly skilled moulding techniques are needed to produce jobbing type one off or low volume castings.
Coupe Foundry specializes in this area and retains a highly skilled work-force for this purpose. The pictures featured on this page demonstrate the strickle bed moulding practice where a centrally pivoted former is used to make a profiled moulding bed. While this technique is labour intensive and requires a high degree of skill, it is possible to produce one off or low volume work which would not be possible on most sophisticated modern moulding machines.
The casting illustrated is approximately 4 metres in diameter. Maintaining a profile of this dimension requires skill and patience.
Coupe Foundry are pleased to be among the few iron foundries in the UK, who are still capable of producing large castings using the strickle moulding technique.
