A boat hinge is an articulated marine hardware that connects a door, cupboard, hatch or other panel to its frame or supporting element. Stainless steel casting in CFS Foundry can customize a variety types of boat hinges – including butt, ladder, hatch, seat, piano, concealed, take-apart and more.
Boat hinges can be cast from 316 stainless steel. With added molybdenum content, 316 stainless steel is an austenitic stainless steel that has better corrosion resistance compared to 304 stainless steel. Thus, it is regarded as marine grade stainless steel commonly used to cast marine hardwares including boat hinges.
Stainless Steel Casting Process
Stainless steel casting of marine boat hinges is actually a stainless steel investment casting process. Investment casting of stainless steel boat hinges includes pressing wax, repairing wax, assembling trees, dipping slurry, melting wax, shell building, pouring, shot blasting, etc. It involves coating a wax pattern with a liquid material. We call it “stainless steel investment casting” because the wax patterns used in the casting process will be “invested” by the liquid refractory material.
The stainless steel investment casting process can produce nearly all the marine hardwares like Cam cleat, Rectangular base, Round base, Cup hoder, Base cleat, Hinge, Anchor, Hatch, Portlight, Cowl Vent, Drinking cup holder, Handle, Hawse pipe, Bollard, fishing rod holder and so on.
Advantages of Casting Stainless Steel Boat Hinges
- Superior surface finish: the ceramic shell was made according to the smooth-surfaced wax pattern. Coat the wax pattern with the ceramic, and when you remove the wax, you will get a superior finished surface of boat hinges.
- Complex, near-net geometries: the wax pattern inside the ceramic is nearly the final boat hinge shape, and the feature of liquid ceramic can round the wax pattern and any details of it. When the wax was removed, the shape still retaining. Therefore, pour the melted metal into the shell and wait for it cool. You will get the final geometries.
- Fine detail: the liquid ceramic shell will warp all the details that the wax pattern has, so the final boat hinges will have fine detail.
Surface Finish: Mirror Polishing
Mirror polishing is a mechanical polishing process involving several polishing steps to achieve mirror like finish. After mirror polishing, the surface of cast stainless steel is never rough, but looks very smooth and shinning. Working in the marine environment, the natural resistance to corrosion of cast stainless steel boat hinges has been restored after polishing and cleaning.
In CFS Foundry, we can provide both stainless steel investment casting and mirror polishing services for our customers. Any inquiry on OEM service for stainless steel casting, pls feel free to contact us!
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