Sand Casting, Machining & Assembly of A356-T6 Aluminum Antenna Positioner for the Satellite Antenna Industry

With many years expertise providing premium casting services for a wide variety of components, Fort Worth Aluminum Foundry was requested to produce a series of aluminum antenna positioners for the satellite antenna industry. By combining our sand casting and assembly operations, and outsourcing any necessary machining processes unable to be completed in-house, we were able to successfully build these parts based off a customer supplied print. We helped make 100 units for this client, packaging and shipping all finished products to their facility in Orland Park, Illinois.

To begin this project, the upper, lower, and middle carriages of each unit were first sand casted. Then, using automatic milling machinery, these components were turned and milled complete. CNC machining operations included the drilling and reaming of all holes, removing of all burrs, and milling of all profiles. It also included the turning of all drive screws and guide rods. A prime and chemical film coating was then placed on both the upper and middle carriages of the aluminum antenna positioner, which helps retard future corrosion. The lower carriage was vacuum impregnated, primed, and painted.

After all parts were properly machined, one Keensert and one drive screw were then installed on both the upper and lower carriages, and anti-seize was applied to the threads. Four unlubric bearings and one oil-less bronze bearing with loctite was attached to the middle carriages. We then joined the upper and lower carriage to the middle carriage of each positioner using 4 guide rods and 8 self-locking retaining rings.

Upholding a (±) .002 of an inch precision tolerance, with a (±) 1 degree tolerance and a parallelism of .001 of an inch, the upper carriage was constructed to possess an outside diameter of 12.7 inches. The lower carriage was built to have an outside diameter of 12.2 inches and a height of 2.625 inches, and the middle carriage to have a length and width of 6.26 inches. We also provided each unit with a smooth, 125 RMS finish. We inspected each assembly to ensure that the carriages move freely and the drive screws align correctly with the middle carriage.

With the ability to provide our customer 100 aluminum antenna positioners, Fort Worth Aluminum Foundry was able to successfully complete this project, meeting all of our client’s product demands. The aluminum antenna positioners fulfilled our buyer’s expectations for quality workmanship.

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