casting advancements 'drive' golf industry

8/2/2019 Casting Advancements 'Drive' Golf Industry

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hen the likes of Tigliattt-J Woods , Phil MickeIsoDavid Duval and SergGarcia chase the storied grejacket at the Masters amni

^2- )WAugusta'sogwvoods and azaleas nemonth, -'fewspectators or TV analyi w:ill likely give too much thoughtJthe advanced manufacturing technoog y in each pro's golf bag. On till "[7;- 0other hand, the golfers are certainfamiliar with the science of their weaonry; and the impact that the precitallurgy and engineering have on t

feel of each club.The game of golf is serious businesJust ask the 27 million golfers in the Uwho open their wallets each year to puchase $2.5 billion in golf clubs. Whatever t

-n`skill level, try to separate a golfer from hprecision "hardware"-which usually is thougof as an extension of the golfer's body itseland you'll have a fight on your hands.With that "top of the world" exhilaration y

experience after dissecting the fairway with*`beautiful ee shot, one might think that the yea-,at the range have finally honed the perfect swi- (at least until the next hole). More than likelhowever, the credit should go to an investme

casting foundry.-.The Move Toward Casting

-.-Investment-cast irons and woods first arrived o-the scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s at a tim-when irons were mostly forged and woods wewood-made from persimmon and maple tree_ These woods began to be replaced in the 198because an engineered metal casting could offer

.muchmore. "From a design standpoint, you could--move the weight around in traditional wood-yowere at the, mercy of the density of the wood," sa!GordySchupmann, golf product engineering manage

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Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Milford,New Hampshire.Cast woods and irons were some-what slow to catch on, primarily be-cause casting technology was lagging atthe time. "The ability to cast thin-wallclubs accurately and repeatably whileimproving tolerance performance by amagnitude of tw o helped drive the trendtoward casting," saidSchupmann. "as the phyiWhile some prosplay with forged understood,products today, it's possibilitiecthe higher handi- desincap, or more aver- give Igage golfer, that degrees of ishould really appre- other proceciate the cast clubdesign. Accordingto Schupmann, forged steel clubs aremore difficult to hit because the weightcannot be distributed around the pe-rimeter of the club. "The cast club ismore forgiving. You don't have to hitoff the center of the club as consis-tently to hit a straight shot. Forgingsare really for the premium golfer, asthere's much less room for error."

A recent PGAMagazinearticlenotedthat: "The late Gary Adams revolution-ized the industry 20 years ago with the421 stainless steel Taylor Made metalwood. It was cast. It had to be . Castingallowed more design options by pour-ing molten steel into [molds] instead oftrying to press heated metal into a die."A cast design also offers severalproduction advantages, including tool-ing costs (m odifications are quick andrelatively easy, as is repair), leadtimes(prototypes can be made in as few as3-5 days), and consistency (fewerpieces and welds result in tighter toler-ances with less variance).PGAMagazinzealso noted that forgedclubs come with a 25% higher cost thana comparable cast item. AddedSchupmann, "Also, there are more sec-ondary operations on a forging. Scorelines, artwork and product name allmust be machined. All these things canbe done during the casting process."Today, Louis Pardini, director of pur-chasing for Tommy Armour Golf Co.,Morton Grove, Illinois, estimates thatabout 85% of all golf clubs are cast.Design Criterion

Pardini, a golf industry veteran,remembers the trend toward cast

foundries jockeying to produce thgolf products. "They'd sell us on howthey had produced space shuttle casings. I'd say, 'Yes, but have you evemade a golf club?' "Th e golf club is a highly engineerecomponent and one that must carefullaccount for human physics and 10mph swings in

sics areth e; of castingers morefreedom thansses."

product performance- Clubhead design requires a balance operformance, durability and abilitto manufacturesaid David RoseMetalwoods' engineer. "Weight distrbution of clubheamass is crucial fo- ball trajectory."Designers and their casting supplers must pay close attention to th

club's center of gravity, tolerance peformance (extremely thin walls of 0.03in. and 0.040 in. for steel and titaniumrespectively) and weight (+2, -1 gramsOther vital concerns are the angles othe lie (angle of the club head anhosel) and loft (angle the clubfacmakes with the ground), both ofwhicare typically within 1. "Castingwall at 0.030 of an inch and stiwithstanding an impact at 85-100 mpis a challenging undertaking,Schupmann said.For the foundry, there are a numbeof things that often push the castinenvelope. These include castability (arthere isolated heavy sections that mube fed, where will weight be placed?weight vs. size (can weight be metthe specified volume?), type of platingengraving issues (is it near weldingwhat is its impact on castability anfinishing?), available room for gatingand club construction (such as add-oweights, stickers or medallions).

Despite the advanced technologand tools, there's still a great dealgray area that challenges designerand is something that can't be put inthe print. "The club must not onperform in the hands of the profesional, but also provide that 'feel' theare looking for," said Paul MikkolHitchiner's executive vice presidenoperations. "As a result, the sciencand techniques available through CAare sometimes not used as well as theshould be. But as the physics are bettunderstood, the design possibilities


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freedom than they would enjoy withother processes."Cosmetics

While appearance is often an after-thought in many casting markets, aes-thetics is very much a critical issue inthe golf industry. "Once the design isfinalized, it's all about cosmetics, cos-metics, cosmetics," said Schupmann.

Added Cast Alloys President JimCollins: "Golf clubs are like jewelry formen. The golf industry places the samevery high value on cosmetics as it doesvn dimonuivnal characturiotic

Said Mikkola, "It's one of the quirksof this business. Even if you have aclub that hits the ball fantastically, ifthe golfer looks down at an ugly pieceof metal, it isn't going to sell. Lookshave a lot to do with what the pros willput in their bag."

Schupmann said it must not only behighly attractive, but differentiable fromother products-no small feat with thehigh number of golf equipment sup-pliers today. "The pluses and minusesthat can be tolerated, on say an auto-motive part, just can't be allowed ona golf club. We're light-years aheadof what we used to produce from acosmetic standpoint. With the ex-ception of maybe medical implants,golf clubs are as difficult a cosmeticcasting job as I've seen."Materials

Most cast irons and woods are pro-duced of 17-4 and 4-31 stainless steel;common investment cast alloys thathave been used in aerospace applica-tions for years. "These alloys' principalbenefit is high strength in a stainlesscomposition," said Raymond Monroe,executive director, Steel Founders' So-ciety of America, Barrington, Illinois."In golf equipment, high strength giveshigh hardness, which transmits the maxi-mum energy from the club to the ball,making the ball go further."

A newer trend increasingly hittingthe links is cast titanium clubs. Consid-

ered a 'space-age" metal, titanium hasgrown in importance and value overthe years, according to the InvestmentCasting Institute, Dallas. Process im-provements in vacuum melting (be-cause titanium is so reactive and oxi-dizes very quickly, it must be meltedunder a vacuum) and molding hasspurred tremendous growth in the pro-duction of aerospace, medical andsports equipment applications. Thegrowth in the production of titaniumgolf heads has been described by manyas "phenomenal."

Titanium ingaining attention ducto its high-strength, low-density ben-efits (titanium's strength is on parwith steel but at half the weight). Itallows golf designers to increase thesize of the club while maintainingthe weight and strength. "The trendis toward a larger head to give golf-ers more confidence in striking themiddle," said Schupmann.An article from the Jouirnal of TheMVinerals.Metals&Materialsociety de-scribed the benefits of a hollowed casttitanium head: "The ne t result is a clubthat is claimed to give greater distance(greater clubhead speed because ofthe longer arc), but also a straightershot because of the greater resistanceto twisting of the shaft, and a highermoment of inertia in the head. In golfterms, the golfer can now drive the ballfarther and further without swingingharder because of a bigger sweet spot. ""Titanium gives designers a wholenew pallet to design with in whichthey can locate the weight in the headto impart and improve certain play-ability characteristics," said Collins."They can increase the overall size ofthe head-larger face, bigger sweetspot-to improve play."Mikkola believes steel will remain thematerial of choice for golf equipment,although the likes of titanium and amor-phous metals will continue to captureintrigue. "Moving forward, the golf in-dustry will continue to gain various prop-erties that it has never seen before."

ore than 50% of the high-end investment cast clubheads sold in theU.S. today are reportedly produced in Taiwan and China. Nearly allof the major club makers in the U.S. are buying some cast clublheadsfrom Chinese foundries. This trend has caused a dramatic shift inproduct strategies for U.S. investment casters and has resulted in the mothballingand changing of plants that had been supplying heads to U.S. consumers.-Ken Kirgin. Stratecasts, Inc.


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Casting iecnnology nas auvanceu to tne point inat tne aesign possiuiiiiiesare only jimimeu nyho w far golf's governing bodies want to see equipment enhancements.Initial Club Design

Typically, the process of designing acast golf club follows a certain method-ology. Engineers first run CAD/CAM(computer-aided design/manufacturing)to experiment with the vast number ofdesign variables while precisely calcu-lating the playing characteristics of theclub before it ever strikes a ball.Next is the creation of a prototypeto help validate the new design anddetermine whether further modifica-tions are needed-before significantexpense is incurred. Wax replicas ofthe proposed design can be made in aday, and the prototype clubhead canbe back from the foundry within a fewdays, ready for grinding, assembly andpreliminary testing.Next, the club undergoes prototypetesting, which can include a "mechani-cal/robotic golfer" that tests facets ofperformance not easily reproduced byhuman golfers. Typical attributes ex-amined are things like spin rates, launchangles and distance between each clubin the set. This testing is followed upby an evaluation by human golfers onthe test range. If changes to the designare necessary to improve playability,the prototype is modified or recast andthe testing cycle is repeated.Upon approval of the fully testeddesign, the next step is to build theproduction-quantity molds required forthe investment casting process.Casting

Upon the completion of the moldtooling, liquid wax is injected into themold an d cooled to create wax replicasof the clubheads. According to Ping, thewax is more expensive on a pound-per-pound basis than the actual stainless steel

vidual replicas are attached by their gates(where the molten metal will flow into thedesired clubhead design) to the tree.After a dip in a cleaning solution, thewax tree is alternately dipped into weceramic slurry and then dry ceramicsand. This process builds up the layers o

a shell capable of withstanding the heaof molten metal. After the shell build, thewax must be removed before metal canbe poured in. The molds are turnedupside-down in a steam autoclave. Afteseveral minutes, the wax melts and drainan d is collected for recycling.Th e empty ceramic shells are preheated to almost 2000F (1093C) inpreparation for the stainless steel pourwhich has a melting point of 2500F(1371C). After pouring, the brittle ceramic shell is separated from the solidified metal casting through the useof a vibrating hammer or other methodAny remaining ceramic material clinging to the iron head is removed bysandblasting. The result is a perfecstainless steel copy of the wax treeThe clubheads are then separated fromthe tree via bandsaw, and most of thegate will be grinded off the clubheadAfter visual inspection, the looseclubheads undergo a heat treatment.Other steps involved in the final product include grinding off the parting linesas well as some welding, finishing andpainting before shipping the heads tothe manufacturer for final assembly.Collaborative Efforts

With today's golf designs lasting 1months to 2 years, the time to market habecome extremely critical. For instancea putter manufacturer might wansamples in its hands 2-3 weeks after finaapproval an d be in full production maybe


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"Most golf customers do R&Dthrough prototyping on CAD/CAMequipment, which means when we geta new design from customers, theyexpect a very rapid turnaround fromwax to metal," said Collins. "We havekey processes and equipment to dothis: shell room dry tunnels, quick-shell systems and onsite heat treatmentcapabilities. This allows us to turn pro-totype waxes around in 3-4 days."Collins also cited how a customeronce called on a Tuesday and neededputter heads cast, finished and as-sembled by Friday fo r a PGA show. "Afew years ago, this customer wouldhave been laughed out of the build-ing," he said. The foundry cast, fin-ished and shipped in 4 days, and 65consecutive putts were sunk at a con-test at the exhibitor's booth.Casting suppliers to the golf industrynot only demonstrate dime-tuming agil-ity, but are also called upon to deliverfar more value-added than a raw cast-ing. Golf companies routinely requirecompletely finished and painted headsand, in some cases, want the head as-sembled with the shaft, grip and glue.About half of the work is done aftercasting, Schupmann said, noting thegrinding, polishing, straightening andpainting attention that each club re-ceives. Added Collins: "The most diffi-cult part is finishing-things like faceangle, score lines, etc. That's where youseparate yourself."The rol6 that the golf club foundryhas played has changed over theyears. According to Schupmann, itwas not uncommon years ago for amodel to simply show up at thefoundry's door. "It was frustratingbecause we could see that we couldhave put a radius here or a suggesteda different wall transition and savedthe customer money.

"Nowadays, they bring ou r castingand finishing people to the table early sothey don't come up with somethingdifficult to cast or needlessly expensiveto produce. We talk about how we'regoing to produce it an d oftentimes cangive designers tangible ways to mini-mize cost." According to Mikkola, this hasbecome an imperative part of the processas manufacturers stretch to reduce costsin what has become a very price-sensi-tive market for golf equipment.Unlimited Possibilities

The future of cast golf club designs

has more to do with governing bodypolitics than it does with current tech-nology. "There was a time whenclubhead designs were limited by theability to produce," said Mikkola. "Nowyou can cast almost anything-in justabout any configuration."The pushing of the envelope is no t amatter of foundries' ability to manufac-ture, but instead the extent of what willgain approval from the U.S. GolfAssn."MCThis article was adaptedfrom one thatoriginally appeared in EngineeredCast-ing Solutions.

Fora free copy of this article circle No . 34on the Reader Action Card.

"Advanced Materials in Golf Clubs: The TitaniumPhenomenon," C.S. Shira and FH. Froes, p. 35-3JOM, Warrendale, PA (May 1997).Investment Casting Handbook, H.T Bidwell,Investment Casting Institute, Dallas (1997).Final Report from T itanium Industry Workshop,sponsored byAmerican Society of MechanicalEngineers, the International Titanium Assn., Th eU.S. Dept. of Energy, Battelle Pacific NorthwestNational Laboratory and the Northwest Alliance fTransportation Technology (1997).InternationalTitanium Assn., Broomfield, COwww.titanium.org.

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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

TITLE: Casting advancements drive golf industry

SOURCE: Modern Casting 92 no3 Mr 2002

WN: 0206001647004

The magazine publisher is the copyright holder of this article and it

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Copyright 1982-2002 The H.W. Wilson Company. All rights reserved.

casting advancements 'drive' golf industry

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