Aren miniature die castings just very small castings?
A. The casting industry generally has applied the word “miniature” to miniscule zinc die castings produced at high volume and low cost using specialized hot-chamber, high-speed die casting machines (4-slide machines, for example) that yield castings which are flash-free. Parts can be cast in Zn 2, 3, 5, and 7, and now in higher-strength ZA-8 hot-chamber alloy, with zero draft and to very close tolerances. These components usually require no trimming and commonly no post-casting machining operations. Very small die castings can be produced on larger, conventional die casting machines using multiple-cavity dies. However, 4-slide equipment may often be the optimum method for casting net-shape flash-free, micro-miniature parts at the lowest part cost with minimun die investment. Newer equipment has brought the advantages of miniature die casting to larger part sizes, up to .75 lbs.
