Our engineering team creates a fully detailed and validated 3D CAD dataset, serving as the foundation for the entire manufacturing process. This involves transforming initial design concepts into precisely engineered digital models, incorporating critical casting features such as shrinkage allowances and machining allowances.

Our casting design process includes:

• Precision Modelling – 3D models developed with casting-specific considerations, ensuring manufacturability and structural integrity.

• Shrinkage Allowances – Accounting for metal contraction during solidification to maintain dimensional accuracy and structural integrity.

• Machining Allowances – Ensuring precise tolerances in post-casting machining.

• Radii and Draft Considerations – Designing for easy mould release and defect prevention.

We also use advanced simulation tools to refine the design, ensuring manufacturability while minimising material waste and machining.

Before production, we run comprehensive MAGMASOFT 32-core casting simulations to refine designs and eliminate costly trial iterations. Our simulations predict and mitigate potential defects, ensuring first-time-right manufacturing.

Key simulations include:

• Mould filling and solidification analysis – Ensuring uniform metal flow and cooling.

• Mechanical property predictions – Virtual mapping of material properties for aluminium, steel, and iron castings.

• Residual stress and distortion predictions – Evaluating stresses in both as-cast and heat-treated conditions.

• Defect identification and process optimisation – Addressing porosity, shrinkage, and thermal distortion before full-scale production.

This data-driven approach ensures efficiency, consistency, and superior casting integrity.

We utilise 3D tool-less sand printing to create complex moulds and cores without the need for traditional tooling. This technology enables the rapid production of prototype castings and low-volume production runs, providing flexibility and efficiency in casting manufacturing.

Our Voxeljet 3D sand printers offer exceptional flexibility, enabling the use of a wide range of sand media, from silica sand to thermally efficient synthetic sands like Cerabeads®.

This versatility enhances casting design, surface finish, and dimensional accuracy, while also allowing for the production of ferrous and non-ferrous castings. With the ability to accommodate low-temperature aluminium alloys and high-temperature iron and steel alloys, our 3D sand printing process ensures precision and adaptability across diverse manufacturing applications.

Benefits of 3D Sand Printing:

• Faster lead times – Printed moulds manufactured within days.

• Unlimited design flexibility – Easily creating undercuts and complex geometries.

• Cost reduction – No need for expensive tooling.

• Risk mitigation – Multiple design iterations can be trialled before full production.

To achieve optimal mechanical properties, cast components undergo controlled heat treatment in our advanced in-house facility. This process enhances material strength, durability, and resistance to thermal and mechanical stresses, ensuring that each casting meets rigorous industry specifications.

Our aerospace heat treatment process capabilities include:

• Solution heat treatment – Controlling material properties for enhanced mechanical performance.
• Furnace capacity: 11.56m³ (2.15m x 2.15m x 2.5m), accommodating a range of part sizes.
• Polymer quenching & Air Cooling – Reducing distortion and internal stresses for superior dimensional stability.
• Aging and stress-relief treatments – Ensuring optimal hardness and durability.
• Precision-controlled thermal cycles – Tailored to specific alloy requirements to achieve desired mechanical properties.

Our heat treatment processes are meticulously monitored and validated to ensure repeatable, high-performance results, making our castings suitable for aerospace, defence, motorsport, and industrial applications.

Our Optical Scanning and Dimensional Verification process ensures every casting meets precise geometric requirements by capturing high-resolution external profiles for analysis, inspection, and alignment. Using advanced GOM and Creaform 3D scanning technology, we perform fast, accurate, non-contact measurement of components regardless of complexity or material.

Our metrology and optical scanning capabilities include:

• 3D Optical Scanning & Digital Surface Capture – High-resolution scanning of external geometries to generate accurate 3D models for inspection, reverse engineering, and quality verification.
• Dimensional Verification & Deviation Analysis – Superimposing scan data onto parent CAD models to perform first-article inspection, identify dimensional variance, and validate process control.
• Reverse Engineering & Legacy Model Reconstruction – Creating new CAD models from existing physical parts for design updates, toolmaking, or legacy part reproduction.
• Machining Datum Alignment – Generating precise X, Y, and Z pick-up coordinates to support accurate fixture setup and ensure casting alignment for CNC machining.
• Tooling Setup Validation – Confirming correct alignment of castings with tooling configurations to maintain consistency throughout batch production.
• Customer-Specified Deviation Reporting – Delivering detailed variance reports that compare scanned geometry to customer CAD data for compliance approval and dimensional traceability.
• Fast, Non-Contact Measurement – Enhancing process efficiency and control by rapidly capturing dimensional data without damaging the part.

Our in-house metrology specialists integrate optical scanning with CAD/CAM workflows to ensure every component is inspected, aligned, and validated for production with complete traceability and confidence.

Our in-house metallurgy laboratory is essential in maintaining material integrity and ensuring strict compliance with industry and customer specifications. Using advanced analytical techniques, we validate alloy compositions and mechanical properties, ensuring consistent and high-quality castings.

Key metallurgical testing capabilities Include:

• Spectrometric analysis – Ensuring precise chemical composition verification for both ferrous and non-ferrous alloys.
• Microstructure examination – Assessing grain structure to confirm material integrity and detect irregularities.
• Tensile testing – Verifying mechanical strength, ductility, and performance under various conditions.
• Hydrogen analysis – Measurement of dissolved hydrogen in aluminium melts helps identify and prevent hydrogen-induced defects.

These rigorous quality control procedures guarantee that our castings meet the highest metallurgical requirements for high-performance and safety-critical applications.

Our metrology department is equipped with 3 CMM’s, two equipped with a fully programmable probe station to measure components up to 2m, allowing us to validate tight tolerances and deliver components with the highest levels of accuracy, complying with Aerospace Quality Management AS/EN9100.

In addition to the static CMMs we also utilize our portable GOM scanners to measure against the 3D digital model, height gauge measurement machines and CT scanner for internal measurements.

This technology combined with our highly experienced inspection team ensures that customer requirements are met including CPK Indices, SPC analysis, full ISIR and FAIR reports.

Metrology inspection Capabilities:

• Creoform Metrascan 3D optical CMM scanner – For accurate and repeatable metrology-grade measurements and 3D geometrical surface inspections. 
• Trimos V7 and Hobson Taylor Talysurf machines – For rapid and accurate surface finish, contour and angle measurements.
• DEA Scirocco automatic cmm measuring machines – For fast and highly accurate measurements of castings with complex shapes.