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<p>Dynacast Elgin is a 112,000-square-foot facility located northwest of Chicago on 4.3 acres. Situated just 45 minutes from Chicago O’Hare International Airport, the Elgin site supports customers across Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and other regions throughout North America. Its secondary manufacturing department specialises in high-volume, high-speed tapping. Below are additional details outlining the capabilities and services available at the Elgin location.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Zinc Multi-Slide die casting</li><li>Conventional aluminium</li><li>Precision toolmaking with in-house capabilities</li><li>Design, prototyping, and modelling services</li><li>Wide range of secondary operations including CNC machining, tapping, reaming, drilling, thermal deburring, x-ray, in-line vibratory feeder, and spectrometer</li><li>Wide range of finishing surfaces available including tumbling, polishing and shot blasting</li><li>Network of certified suppliers that can offer any cosmetic or protective coating you may need to finish your product</li></ul>

Dynacast Elgin, Illinois

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Elgin, IL

<p>Dynacast Lake Forest is located in Orange County, Southern California. The facility specialises in zinc alloy die casting using both conventional and Multi-Slide machines, as well as aluminium alloy die casting. Supported by a dynamic, highly skilled workforce, Dynacast Lake Forest delivers advanced manufacturing technology and exceptional service to both new and existing customers. Below are additional details outlining the capabilities available at the Lake Forest location.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Multi-Slide zinc die casting</li><li>Conventional zinc die casting</li><li>Aluminium die casting</li></ul><ul><li>Precision toolmaking with in-house capabilities</li><li>Tooling design, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), prototyping and modelling services</li><li>Wide range of secondary operations, including CNC machining, tapping, reaming and drilling</li><li>Wide range of finishing options, including tumbling, polishing, shot blasting and thermal deburring</li><li>Network of certified suppliers that can provide any cosmetic or protective coating required to finish your product</li><li>Conventional, CMM and &nbsp;X-ray inspection, advanced ultrasonic cleaning, installation, assembly and testing operations, including electrical, air and water leak testing</li></ul>

Dynacast Lake Forest, California

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Lake Forest, CA

<p>Dynacast Mexico is located north of Mexico City. As a die-casting supplier in Mexico, this facility specialises in die casting zinc and aluminium alloys using both conventional and Multi-Slide die-casting machines. Our Mexico die-casting facility has also been a front-runner in increased process automation. Below are additional details of what we offer at the Mexico City location:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Zinc Multi-Slide die casting</li><li>Conventional zinc die casting</li><li>Aluminium die casting</li><li>Precision tooling manufacture with in-house capabilities</li><li>Design, prototyping and modelling services</li><li>Wide range of secondary operations, including CNC machining, tapping, reaming, thermal deburring, high-pressure cleaning and drilling</li><li>Wide range of surface finishing options, including tumbling, polishing, shot blasting and thermal deburring</li><li>Network of certified suppliers able to provide any cosmetic or protective coating required to finish your product</li><li>AIAG-compliant delivery system for automation management at customer warehouses&nbsp;</li></ul>

Dynacast Mexico City, Mexico

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Mexico City, MX

<p>Dynacast Peterborough is known for its Multi-Slide technology, conventional die casting with integrated automation, and IMA (Injected Metal Assembly) precision zinc manufacturing. IMA, a type of insert moulding, offers a unique process in which precision tooling is combined with metal alloys to join multiple components into a ready-to-use assembly in a single operation. The facility also features advanced aluminium hot chamber Multi-Slide capabilities, including fast cycle times (up to 10 cycles per minute), a very low runner-to-casting ratio, and fully automated in-line processing that produces flash-free components. Dynacast Peterborough is dedicated to designing, building, manufacturing, and delivering quality die cast components. Below are additional details on what is offered at the Peterborough location:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Conventional zinc die casting machines</li><li>Zinc Multi-Slide die casting</li><li>Hot chamber Multi-Slide aluminium die casting</li><li>Injected Metal Assembly (IMA)/insert moulding</li></ul><ul><li>Precision toolmaking with in-house capabilities</li><li>Design, prototyping, and modelling services</li><li>Wide range of secondary operations, including CNC machining, tapping, reaming, and drilling</li><li>Wide range of surface finishes, including tumbling, polishing, shot blasting, and thermal deburring</li><li>Coating equipment for cosmetic or protective coatings, available through certified suppliers or in-house</li></ul>

Dynacast Peterborough, Ontario

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Peterborough, ON

26 locations worldwide, 1,100+ customers worldwide, and 1,000+ employees in North America.

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<p>New to the die casting process? Learn how to effectively implement design tactics for optimal manufacturability here.</p><h2>Design for manufacturability</h2><p>Optimising your component design to take advantage of the die casting process is key to achieving a return on your investment. Whether your project is best suited for <a href="/die-casting-technologies/conventional-die-casting" target="_self">conventional die casting</a>, <a href="/die-casting-technologies/multi-slide" target="_self">multi-slide die casting</a>, or <a href="/die-casting-technologies/sub-assembly" target="_self">injected metal assembly</a>, it is best to design your component with the production process in mind. In other words, engineers should approach each project with the aim of designing for optimal manufacturability.</p><p>Design for manufacturing (DFM) is a core methodology that ensures die cast parts perform to specification and reduces the need for secondary operations. As these operations can often represent as much as 80% of the component cost, it is important to minimise them during the design stage.</p><p>DFM is more than just a concept—it is a way to remove cost and eliminate inefficiencies before your project moves towards production. <strong>In this blog, we will guide you through three ways to design your die cast component for maximum ROI.</strong></p><h2>Reduce weight and wall thickness</h2><p>In die casting, two of your highest cost drivers are material and machine time. You can reduce the need for both by adding weight-saving pockets and reducing wall thickness.</p><p>Reducing weight and wall thickness in cross sections may seem like an obvious solution. Less weight means less material, and less material means lower material cost. It also means reduced solidification time, which means more shots per minute. However, some companies find themselves sacrificing performance for cost.</p><p>With part performance in mind, it is important to deliberately reduce weight and wall thickness while maintaining part strength. When designing your component, you will need to use your project's mechanical and physical requirements to select the most appropriate alloy that will perform effectively with thin walls.</p><p>For instance, if your part needs to be corrosion-resistant and stable, thin-wall aluminium is a good fit. Aluminium is corrosion-resistant and retains high dimensional stability and hardness.</p><p>Would you like to learn which alloy is the best fit for your project? Use our <a href="/metals/metal-selector-tool" target="_self">dynamic metal selector tool</a> to filter for your required mechanical and physical properties!</p><h2>Maintain consistent wall thickness</h2><p>While striving to reduce wall thickness, it is perhaps even more important to maintain uniformity. This will go a long way towards ensuring a consistently stable, repeatable casting that is optimised for manufacturing.</p><p>Varying wall thickness can lead to porosity due to varying flow pressures and non-uniform solidification. At Dynacast, our engineers have many techniques for achieving a net-shape component with die casting while maintaining consistent wall thickness.</p><p>In Figure 2, you can see that the component on the left has several walls that are much thicker than the thinnest part of the component. If cast this way, it would produce a weaker, porous part. Instead, our engineers will core out the thicker walls to achieve greater uniformity and incorporate ribs in the cores to ensure part strength.</p><h2>Consider draft angle and tolerance zones</h2><p>When designing your component, it is important to keep the achievable draft angles and tolerances for your project's materials in mind to avoid redesign delays. For draft angles, in general, 0.5º is achievable for zinc; 1º-2º is achievable for aluminium. For exact tolerances, generally between ±0.001” and ±0.002” is possible for zinc, whereas aluminium can hold between ±0.002” and ±0.004”.</p><p>With achievable draft angles and tolerances in mind, you are better equipped to avoid engineering unnecessary cost into the design. Too often, companies request exacting tolerances and minimal draft angles when such features are not needed to maximise part performance. As a result, their castings fail.</p><p>Instead, take a more holistic approach to your design. Determine the non-critical dimensions of your component to allow for more lenient tolerance zones. In addition to extending the life of your tooling, as there are fewer exact geometries that wear down, allowing for tolerance zones also makes it easier to plan the tolerance stack-up of your entire component. This will help you avoid machining and secondary operations wherever possible, making your design work for you to get the most out of the die casting process.</p><h2>Improve efficiency through better design</h2><p>Modifying your part design to take advantage of the die casting process not only enables you to fully leverage the efficiencies of die casting, but can also better support your business needs.</p><p>Are you interested in learning more about how to efficiently design your die cast component for optimal manufacturability? Register for our webinar, <a href="/resources/webinar/removing-cost-in-the-design-stage" target="_self">Removing Cost in the Design Stage</a>.</p>

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Understand die cast design fundamentals and improve part function, durability and manufacturability with Dynacast’s engineering expertise, production support.

Beginner's guide to die cast design | Dynacast

See strategies for optimising die cast design, including weight reduction, maintaining uniform wall thickness and understanding draft angles to maximise manufacturability and ROI in your projects. 

A beginner's guide to die cast design

<h3>Machining conversion to die casting</h3><p>If you’ve seen the breathtaking aerial footage <a href="/industries/autonomous-drone-systems" target="_self">drone cameras</a> are capable of, you know it’s possible to get smooth, film-like video from today’s go-anywhere cameras. GoPro needed to affordably deliver that same incredible stability to adventure athletes on the ground, underwater or in flight—instead of the bounced-around “shaky cam” look that is inevitable with a handheld device.</p><h3>Bringing video down to earth</h3><p>Without stabilisation, the jarring motion of any handheld video is obvious on screen.</p><p>It is even worse for adventure athletes: conditions can range from unpredictable to extreme; there is not always a logical place to mount the camera; and “just stand still” is a foreign concept. For these video creators, stabilising equipment is essential.</p><p>GoPro already had a stabilisation system for use with a quadcopter-style drone, but customers love to capture close-up footage right in the action.</p><p>The company decided to repurpose the drone mounting component into a part that customers could use to attach GoPro cameras to handheld and body-worn stabilisers instead.</p><h3>Exceptional versatility</h3><p>“The products we make endure a wide variety of uses,” explains Matt Thomas, Mechanical Engineering Manager for GoPro accessories. “Everything from skiing to SCUBA diving to chasing your kids through a park.”</p><p>That meant the mount had to be strong—and for consumer use, it needed to deliver cost savings across thousands of units and many years. To expedite time to market, GoPro’s designers initially specified the mount as an all-machined metal component.</p><p>“While that was the quickest way for us to get to market,” says Thomas, “it was also more expensive. So in parallel, we investigated a longer-term, more cost-effective option.”</p><p><strong>To determine the optimal materials and processes to reduce costs for the replacement part GoPro wanted, the team engaged Dynacast.</strong></p><h3>Casting decisions</h3><p>“We utilised Dynacast’s services in the past on a number of projects, and they have become one of our top-tier suppliers,” says Thomas. The two companies had also worked together in sessions that Dynacast held to explore cost reduction and <a href="/additional-capabilities/part-improvement" target="_self">manufacturability improvements</a>. The first thing they agreed on was minimising processing-related costs.</p><p>“Extrusion is great for making a two-dimensional part, but when you add other features to it, you have to machine it as a secondary process, and that adds cost,” says Bill Heilman of Dynacast. “We told them, you do not have to add machining. We can simply cast it in that shape.”</p><h3>Handle—with care</h3><p>The GoPro team’s overarching goal was to reduce cost, but they also had other requirements for the part. “We needed strength and a lightweight component. Something that would handle a variety of environmental situations,” says Thomas.</p><p>Since the part is a handle that people would operate with their fingers—often in extreme conditions, and perhaps not with the gentlest touch—the team needed to ensure the feel would be acceptable to the end user.</p><p>Because materials offer different surface treatment options, it was important to keep post-processing work to a minimum, including secondary polishing and machining of the components, while achieving the precise anodisation colour. They ultimately cast it in aluminium to match the existing parts on the mount and achieve their cost-reduction goals.</p><h3>Material selection</h3><p>“We tell customers, ‘Do not assume that because you chose one particular manufacturing process, that is the only way to make the part,’” says Dynacast’s Heilman.</p><p>Matt Thomas agrees. “When we first started, the cast part represented an approximately 50% saving over the machined part”—making <a href="/metals/aluminum" target="_self">die-cast aluminium</a> a clear choice for both cost reduction and manufacturability goals.</p><p>“It is great to see product in the market and being sold,” says Thomas. “Dynacast is very responsive, timely in its communication and easy to work with. It is the ease of collaboration in taking the design from concept to tooling.”</p><p>If you are looking for a partnership to help you apply new tools and technologies or fully realise your design vision, let us help move your business forward. Contact our team today to start the conversation.</p>

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Discover how converting from machining to die casting can lower costs, improve production speed and enhance precision for efficient manufacturing operations.

Switch from machining to die casting for efficiency

This case study highlights how GoPro partnered with Dynacast to convert a machined metal component into a die-cast aluminium part, resulting in significant cost savings and improved manufacturability for its camera stabilisation mounts.

Machining conversion to die casting

<p>Looking for a manufacturing solution that can join two or more dissimilar components? Our <a href="/die-casting-technologies/sub-assembly" target="_self">injected metal assembly (IMA) process</a> provides a permanent, reliable bond by injecting a small amount of molten zinc around the components being joined.</p><p><strong>Learn more about IMA by downloading our webinar!</strong></p><p>We’ll cover:</p><ul><li>The IMA process</li><li>The advantages of using this innovative bonding method</li><li>Materials that can be joined using the IMA process</li><li>Applications and solutions for a <a href="/industries" target="_self">variety of industries</a></li></ul><p><strong>Fill out the form to access the webinar! </strong></p>

Injected Metal Assembly Video

Learn how Injected Metal Assembly (IMA) works and how it improves part strength, precision and production speed for complex assemblies.

What is injected metal assembly? | Dynacast

See how our injected metal assembly (IMA) process creates a permanent, reliable bond by injecting molten zinc around dissimilar components—ideal for a wide range of industries. 

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