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An interesting thing encountered in taking apart a Ford truck. This whole dash support looks like injection molded plastic but it is 100% cast aluminum. Casting a piece this thin & complicated should be impossible, so I think Ford must be using some sort of injection molding techniques for casting 🤔

The truck is a 2005 so maybe I'm just way behind, but I had no idea this was being done. Or is there some other sort of magic casting technique that I haven't imagined?

#cars #carstr #manufacturing #casting

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Discussion

Dissident Sound 2y ago

i believe it's cast magnesium.

Ford actually had a fire at a plant that did this and it was a huge news story as production of F150s had to be temporarily halted.

Jeff Swann 2y ago

Ah, definitely could be... I might try to burn a tiny piece in a bit & see if it blinds me 😜

Snotklap 2y ago

Sintered powdered metal injection moulding perhaps?

Adeptus 2y ago

a process called hydro-forming is generally used for ductile metals like that.

RandySavage 2y ago

It’s high pressure die cast. There were s lot of mag parts on the 2005 (like the front core support). I can’t remember if the dash was mag, but that looks like it.

Jeff Swann 2y ago

It's an interesting piece of work. I do think it's magnesium. The more I was messing with it the less it seemed to behave like aluminum. I cut a small piece off to burn & then forgot to do it before I locked up, so I'll report back tomorrow. If it is then I'm really glad I didn't decide to take a grinder to it 😬