Supply Plus Limited designs, manufactures and distributes a range of high quality, professional safety and fuel delivery equipment, including a mobile hose reel that has the capacity to hold up to 200m of 70mm lay flat hose. The design incorporates two wheels that were formally fabricated in-house.
Due to the success of the hose reel and high demand, Supply Plus looked to outsource the manufacture of the wheels. They investigated the alternatives and contacted NovaCast about the feasibility of producing the fabricated wheel as a single casting. If possible, this could deliver performance and aesthetic improvements while freeing up welding capacity.
NovaCast’s engineering design team optimised the design geometry for casting and confirmed that it was possible to deliver the required specification by gravity die casting the wheels in A356 aluminium. This alloy was recommended due to its high strength and relatively low weight. The performance of the castings was further enhanced through heat treatment to T6 specification. This process involves solution heat treatment at a high temperature, followed by rapid quenching before being artificially aged through heating at a lower temperature over several hours. The resulting T6 temper improves tensile properties, creep resistance (deformation or distortion over time), and fatigue resistance.
Patrick Holt, Operations Director at Supply Plus, is happy with the solution delivered by NovaCast. He commented “The conversion of our fabricated wheels to castings has achieved our objective of removing a bottle-neck within the fabrication department. The castings perform very well, and the finish is excellent”.
NovaCast has many years’ experience in achieving enhanced product performance, better aesthetics, and improved manufacturing workflows through converting fabrications and assemblies to castings. If you would like to discuss doing the same within your business, give our sales team a call on +44 (0)1225 707466 or email sales@novacast.co.uk.
