Foundry » From Start to Finish

Our goal at R & H Machine is to provide the longest wearing replacement parts available to the agricultural community with unrivalled quality. R & H high Chrome Alloy wear parts are manufactured entirely in our plant in Caldwell, Idaho. Our parts are cast of an extremely durable material which makes our parts the longest lasting on the market. We have over fifty years of satisfied customers who agree with us. To best understand how we achieve this goal, we would like to describe our manufacturing process.

Our molding sand is a crushed rock product specifically designed to give a superior casting finish. The molds are made of a water-soluble binder and catalyst system which, though expensive, is not harmful to our employees or the environment. Our entire process from start to finish has been thoroughly designed and checked to minimize or eliminate exposure to hazardous materials. The sand is mixed and packed into a pattern, and allowed to harden. The pattern is then turned over and lifted from the packed sand, resulting in one half of a mold. The other half is made in the same manner. As our metal cannot be drilled or tapped, any bolt holes must be provided by cores. The cores, which also provide cavities within the parts, are now added before the two halves are glued together. After the mold is complete, it is stacked on a pallet, labeled, and allowed to dry.

In our pouring process each element of our special metal, which includes: chromium, molybdenum, manganese, nickel, carbon, silicon, and mild steel scrap, is weighed to two one-hundredths of a pound to ensure the highest quality possible. We use approximately seventy-five percent recycled material in the production of our metal. Our carefully weighed ingredients are then loaded into our induction furnace, and melted to 2800 to 3000 degrees, depending on the type of metal being poured. After the metal is ready, to ensure our high quality, the impurities and slag are removed, and the temperature is checked. The molds are laid out on a sand-covered floor, while the alloys are being melted. The loose sand will capture any spilled metal. Weights are placed on the molds to prevent the tops from lifting off. The pouring ladle is then brought to the furnace and filled. The ladle is then brought to the pouring floor, and each mold is filled with molten metal. The metal is allowed to harden, before being removed from the floor, and cooled. As you can see, the entire part has been cast of the same material. This makes R & H Chrome Alloy parts the same inside and out, unlike a hard-faced product, which only gives a hard surface.

The castings are then removed from the sand mold, separated from the runner system, and cleaned in a steel-shot blaster. The grinding department will now complete the manufacturing process. Each part is hand-ground to remove the parting line where the two halves of the mold met. All bolt holes are checked with a bolt to ensure that every core has been cleaned out and will fit properly on the customers’ equipment. The surface of each part is checked to make sure it is free of rough areas. Our parts, like planter shoes, are smoothed on a belt sander. Each part will have been checked a minimum of three times before it leaves the grinding department. The runner system and any part with defects are returned to the melting department to be recycled into a new batch of metal. The finished castings are now ready for shipment to our warehouse and ultimately our valued customers throughout the country.