By far the best choice

This year the two strong partners Kurtz and Korkmaz Çelik completed a joint low-pressure die casting project with the Turkish supplier Altun Döküm Sanayi A.Ş. With an annual casting capacity of 1,800 t of aluminum, the contract foundry processes numerous alloys using gravity, high-pressure and low-pressure casting processes. How Altun Döküm was able to further increase product quality with low-pressure casting is reported in an interview with Kenan Pulat, Assistant Production Manager at Altun Döküm.

K. Pulat: We met at the GIFA fair in 2019. Some of my colleagues and I met at the Kurtz booth and got in-depth technology and machine information. We kept in lively contact, Korkmaz Çelik took care of the communication in our mother tongue and supported us in technical topics.

K. Pulat: We have been producing by low-pressure die casting (LPDC) method for many years. Machines that we use are mostly outdated technology. New parts requests coming from our clients directed us to use newer technological systems. That is why we travelled to GIFA fair. Kurtz Foundry Machines convinced us the most. Kurtz technologies are state of the art, have great references and are the most powerful on the market. We need a very flexible casting machine to produce our wide range of products at Altun Döküm.

K. Pulat: We explained the Korkmaz Çelik team our present and future projects. Besides the parts in metal die, with and without sand cores, we also need to cast complete core packages in low-pressure. We asked for a machine which can do both processes, metal die and sand core in one machine, which is not usual at all. Our projects have high quality requirements, lot sizes are mostly low. We are casting high weight products up to 700 kg and very light products up to 0.2 kg. According to our projects, the Kurtz team determined the machine´s requirements.

K. Pulat: We decided for Kurtz low-pressure machine, tailormade for our needs. This is the first Kurtz Foundry Machine which is of type shuttle system, perfectly suited for changeable crucible furnace. We have to use many different kinds of alloys. Therefore a changeable furnace is a big advantage.

We bought two 900 kg furnaces with different kind of alloys or for highly efficient casting, which means high quantity. One furnace can cast, and one furnace can be prepared with new material in parallel outside of the machine. We change the furnace with a crane. Kurtz convinced us with their cooling technology and the accuracy of the Kurtz low-pressure control system. Based on that, we can cast structural parts, massive parts, and hollow parts. All we need to cast as a jobbing foundry. We are able to change dies fast and can store all the casting recipes on the machine. That means we are able to change from one product to another in a very short time..

K. Pulat: There is an extremely professional manner at Kurtz starting from the specifying of machine´s requirements to the bid, layout plan, pre-acceptance procedure, shipping, installation, and training. We haven´t had any problems, even though we had the pandemic situation and a lot of restrictions due to it.

K. Pulat: The Russian team was planned and organized with the Altun Döküm team. The installation was completed on time and tests were conducted successfully. The worldwide Kurtz Ersa network is working very well. The teams are working hand in hand.

K. Pulat: We are completely satisfied. The Kurtz team solved all possible and unforeseen problems after and before the installation on the field. Remote control was helpful for us because we wanted to have additional software features afterwards which could be handled via the remote control system.

K. Pulat: Our first goal is increasing capacity of casting in terms of tonnage and improve our casting abilities. But Kurtz will surely be the first choice for our new projects.