Green Sand Foundry Website

WB White Foundry and ASF (Architectural Street Furnishings) are pleased to announce a new website, well microsite really, dedicated to our green sand casting capabilities.

The new website is at

www.greensandfoundry.co.uk

and looks at the manufacturing processes, pattern making and mould making for our greensand plant.

The green sand plant is ideal for smaller castings, finials/decorative pieces and batch repetition castings. Cast Iron, aluminium, gun metal, bronze and more can all be poured into our greensand moulds.

The material that goes into the greensand moulds is all 100% recycled and the greensand moulds themselves are made using 100% recycled sand.

Traditional Cast Iron Foundry - WB White

WB White Foundry was established in 1907 on a site with a rich history of casting that predates this.

Cast Iron as a material is responsible for some of the greatest leaps forward in engineering capabilities in the history of UK industry, and developments in cast iron as an engineering and architectural material fuelled the further development of steam power, the railways, civil engineering and played a key role in the Industrial Revolution.

In 1707, Abraham Darby patented a method to cast pots in iron, a method which paved the way for cast iron to be used to make a variety on engineering and architectural pieces. Wheels, machinery, bridge components and more all became possible from these modest roots.

The success of cast iron was down to the versatility of the material, it can be made into just about any shape, large and small, is durable, strong, rust resistant, robust and long lasting. From huge civil engineering and machine castings to delicate scrollwork and atristic pieces, cast iron is a rich historical material that is more than appropriate for the modern world.

WB White Foundry still use traditional methods to manufacture cast iron. On the face of it this may sound out-dated and ancient, but in many ways the opposite is true. Nowadays, WB White Foundry use 100% recycled materials to manufacture new cast iron, meaning that the finished product is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable.

A great strength of cast iron is that it is incredible long lasting (for example, a cast iron bollard should last up to and beyond 100 years in normal use) but can also be recycled indefinately with no loss in property or quality. In a world where sustainability is such a key issue, these valuable characteristics make cast iron a truly modern material.

Cast iron products always start life as a pattern. Patterns are handmade from timber (or occasionally resin) and replicate the finished cast product. Form these patterns, sand moulds are made. There are two main types of sand mould made at WB White Foundry:

1. Airset (furane), where furane resin is mixed with sand before being compacted into the patterns to create a mould. The resin in the sand reacts with the air and sets hard to create a solid mould into which the molten iron is poured.

2. Greensand, where clay and water are mixed with the sand so that the sand particles bond together making a hard mould.

At this stage cores also need to be manufactured. Cores form the internal voids of castings that need to be hollow inside. They can be very intricate and complex, especially when used for engineering products.

At WB White Foundry the sand used in mould making is also recycled or reclaimed, making cast iron even more environmentally sustainable.

Cast Iron can be used for a wide variety of products. WB White Foundry manufacture valves, thermostats, roller shutter components, gears, weights, ancillary castings, gully grates, the list goes on. WB White Foundry's sister company, Architectural Street Furnishings have a wide range of street furniture products including bollards, tree grilles, seating, cycle stands and much more.

WB White Foundry

Priory Road

Armytage Road

Brighouse

HD6 1PY

01484 715168

01484 721398

http://www.wbwhitefoundry.co.uk/

http://www.castironbollards.co.uk/

http://www.asfco.co.uk/

ASF - The Sister Company of WB White Foundry

ASF (Architectural Street Furnishings) is the sister company of WB White Foundry.

ASF manufacture a wide range of street furniture items in cast iron, cast aluminium, steel, stainless steel, granite and timber.

The ASF blog can be visited by following this street furniture link.

Further to this, the street furniture website can be visited by clicking here, and the cast iron bollards microsite can be found by following this link.

ASF - Our Sister Company

ASF (Architectural Street Furnishings) is the sister company of WB White Foundry.

Please follow this link to view our ASF Blog:

http://asf-architecturalstreetfurnishings.blogspot.com/

Or click here to view the ASF website.

Alternatively, you can click this link to see our cast iron bollards dedicated microsite.

WB White Foundry - cast aluminium

As well as the ability to manufacture cast iron products, WB White Foundry can manufacture a wide variety of products in all grades of aluminium, bronze, zinc-alloys, copper based alloys and gunmetal.

Aluminium (aluminum) castings are not just lighter, on average 65% lighter than iron, but also offer the capability of having a finer finish. WB White Foundry can gravity die cast aluminium for jobs where clean and intricate details or large batches are required, or both.

Aluminium castings are often a more practical solution than iron, particularly where weight is likely to be an issue. Aluminium is often used for cast finials, removable street furniture castings and ancillary products.

Other alloy and aluminium casting materials offer aesthetic as well as practical appeal. Being non ferrous, these castings will not rust and materials such as gunmetal and aluminium bronze can offer a great visual appeal for architectural castings, especially if left to patina and age naturally.