What is Heat Treatment? After aluminum cools in the casting process, it is engrained with specific “as cast” strength characteristics. Most applications require aluminum castings to have different mechanical properties, metallurgical structure or tensile strength that an aluminum casting will not have “as cast”. Heat treatment is used to strengthen and improve the structure of… Read more »
Category: Blog
Smooth Surface Finish
With certain applications the surface finish of a part needs to be visually appealing. A good looking part is often seen as a sign of a high quality component. A casting with a baseline smooth and uniform surface, such as V-Process castings, will require less cleaning, finishing and machining to produce. When comparing different surface… Read more »
Shot Blaster Upgrade

As an on going effort to improve TPi’s capabilities we have recently upgraded our shot blaster with a Viking SHY4848 Spinner Hanger Y-Track Blaster. The Y-Track spinner hanger allows for easy loading and unloading of larger castings. These castings spin around a central axis allowing all sides to be blasted by the VK PowerMax 1500… Read more »
Metal Pouring Robot Upgrade
TPi Arcade continuously improves the factory through a dedicated capital project program. One such project was to upgrade to a new metal pouring robot. The retired robot performed over 1.1 million pours and 65 thousand operating hours. The new robot, an ABB Foundry Plus 2, has increased payload and reach. The pouring robot is equipped… Read more »
Design-2-Part Directory
TPi has worked with Design-2-Part for many years. They are a great resource for companies to find and connect with suppliers. We attend several Design-2-Part trade shows annually and find they offer excellent opportunities to meet our customers face to face. Design-2-Part has the largest searchable directory of quality North American job shops and contract… Read more »
TPi COVID-19 Update
Dear Valued Customer/Partner, As you know, COVID-19 (coronavirus) is causing large-scale business disruption globally. TPi is committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of our employees. At this time, employees that can work from home are required to do so. Employees who, due to their jobs, are unable to work from home have been provided… Read more »
Quality Clinic
The TPi Arcade Quality Clinic is a data-driven quality strategy that creates a constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service. If an aspect of a project is non-conforming, we analyze and track the product and process; determines root causes, and ensures changes to standard work, processes and/or designs. The TPi Arcade Quality Clinic team uses a variety of streamlined Relentless Root Cause/Corrective Action (RRCA) activities tools to help diagnose the root cause of… Read more »
Why is draft not necessary in V-Process?
Most casting processes, such as die, permanent mold or sand casting, require a draft angle or taper to the part (die or permanent mold) or pattern (sand). The purpose of a draft angle is to allow clearance for the pattern and/or part to eject smoothly from the mold. If a mold wall is perpendicular to… Read more »
Billet Machining vs V-Process
TPi Arcade has substantial experience in converting aluminum billet parts to V-Process sand cast parts. A V-Process sand casting conversion offers minimal compromise on finish or shape. Initially, companies often chose billet machining for its net shape precision, minimal tooling dollars and short lead times. It can be a cost effective option at lower quantities…. Read more »