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Planning to start Foundry Pattern Shop

PrawinArumugam

Plastic
Joined
Apr 24, 2019
Hi All,
I am planning to start my own workshop to manufacture patters, corebox and dies (wood, Aluminum,CI) for various foundries.

And also at the same time I am bit concered about the future of it, will this be a good business for present and future?

Kindly share your views ,which will help me a lot to explore before stepping on it .

Thank you team.
 
Casting metal was done for the last few thousand years and is not going to disappear. But like any business pattern making shop can do well or poorly and the success depends on many factors. For small parts casing is partly replaced today by other technologies, but there is no real substitute for large castings. I've recently ordered a large aluminum casting (about 100Kg) and the price of the rather complicated wood pattern was almost as high as the rest.
 
For smaller quantities or one offs they do 3D-print the molds nowadays
That technoligie will grow
No need for patterns and undercuts are no problem eighter
Your succes depends on the customerbase you can attrack

Peter
 
I would be interested in possibly going down this road
I have a local foundry that can be used but their pattern making is slow and they are not even interested unless it is for large orders
If I had my own pattern it would be a different case
I’m not wanting to go into high productivity, I don’t have the room or the manpower
That’s not to say, I couldn’t have the manufacturing outsourced
 
There are 3D printers that will print a green sand mold. That is what you should be offering. Same with lost PLA. If you offer those along with wood patterns I think you will future proof your business.
 
Look into 3D printing. Additive manufacturing as the industry calls it. As suggested it is indeed the most cost effective process to make patterns or the mold itself. You are at an advantage as you don't have [I presume] a heavy investment in older technology. You still need the skills of good foundrymen but the quality and speed of pattern making with AM is the only way to success in today's market.
 
We used to have wood patterns made and they were high dollar item one-ups that took some time to get back. I could have made many/some of them in an hour for 1/10 the price.
I think it a good idea but getting known is the problem, and one-ups might be common.
 
In a past life, I spent some time as a steel foundry marketing manager. Be prepared to waste at least half your time on the phone, on e-mails and with drop-ins who have a vague idea they'd like to have something cast. Most will have no idea of the complexity of patterns and foundry work, no concept of the cost of a first article, no concept of economies of scale. Typically, you'll get one profitable long term customer out of fifty inquiries.

jack vines
 
This clown's pulling your pissers.

Sami, I have enormous respect for you, and of course you may be right ... but I confess that thus far I'm not seeing whatever you're seeing that leads you to this conclusion (and that includes the other thread on automation in a foundry).

Keep in mind that the OP is in India. What is feasible as a business plan in the US or UK or such may not really translate well, both in terms of language or process, to India, and vice versa.

Again, you may be right, but having grown up in Asia and seen the way that many businesses can start and survive on less than a shoestring, thus far I would be inclined towards benefit of the doubt ... either that, or I really am missing something!
 
My own experience was for years a wood pattern was the way to go for aluminum casting and the company I worked for had many made at great expense. This was staring in 1978 but by the time I retired in 2015 we had a product which again needed a cast aluminum part as we assumed that was the best way to go. That was until we had a company in China bid on the pattern and they decided it was better to make the part on a CNC machine out of a big block of aluminum for cheaper as all the machining needed was done all in one shot. A lot of chips were made but the labor costs were next to nothing. For very high volume I think casting was a cheaper but for low volume there was no contest.
 
Sami, I have enormous respect for you, and of course you may be right ... but I confess that thus far I'm not seeing whatever you're seeing that leads you to this conclusion (and that includes the other thread on automation in a foundry).

Keep in mind that the OP is in India. What is feasible as a business plan in the US or UK or such may not really translate well, both in terms of language or process, to India, and vice versa.

Again, you may be right, but having grown up in Asia and seen the way that many businesses can start and survive on less than a shoestring, thus far I would be inclined towards benefit of the doubt ... either that, or I really am missing something!

May I suggest you read his posts - https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/search.php?searchid=18939191
 

Yes, I've read them, all four to date. At first glance it seems like quite a scatter shot ... but really boils down to just 2 topics, CNC and foundry work, and even those might be connected through the pattern making. Language is definitely an issue; I'm not entirely sure what one of the posts is asking, but it appeared to me to be due more to translation than anything else.

Again, you may well be right. To me, though I'm a bit concerned about the lack of follow up from the OP on any of the posts, I'm still at the wait-and-see stage, particularly in view of issues of language and culture. Unless I'm missing something else - always possible, as this is the sleep-deprived part of the year for me - I'm just not ready to call this one.
 








 
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