Company Capabilities

Durham Foundry (Sheffield) Ltd, along with our parent company, C Butcher and Co Ltd, is a jobbing iron foundry based at Harleston Street, Sheffield, England. We are over a hundred years old and are still owned and managed by the same family.

We produce castings in grey, ductile, high chrome wear resistant, high nickel heat and corrosion resistant, compacted graphite and austempered ductile cast irons. We can also produce castings to a bespoke analysis if required. Our customer base covers the engineering, decorative, architectural and artistic sectors and we can supply castings from one off up to small to medium batch production using Alkali Phenolic resin bonded sands. Our workforce of highly skilled moulders can work from complex loose pattern equipment, particularly where low volumes are required, whilst our moulding line is suited for batch production.

Our long trading history, coupled with an investment programme that has enabled us to keep up with modern production methods and environmental legislation has meant that we continue to quote competitively for castings within our weight and size range. All our castings are produced to a current ISO material specification, along with any further certification which a customer may require. We are also ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 accredited. Our diverse customer base has also given us experience in a wide range of applications for cast iron , including pumps and valves, forges, foundries and rolling mills, automotive and aerospace, a wide range of OEM’s, quarries and mines, railways and rolling stock, local authorities and artists and sculptors. We also have long term trading relationships with local pattern makers, machine shops and surface finishers which enable us to quote for the complete supply of the finished casting.

Weight, Size and Quantity Range

We can quote for castings up to 1100 kg in grey iron, 600 kg in ductile, ADI and compacted graphite irons and 350 kg in the highly alloyed wear, heat and corrosion resistant irons such as Ni Hard and Ni Resist.

Our maximum box size is 9ft x 5ft and we can accommodate most combinations of size and weight within those parameters. We are happy to quote for one offs and can go up to medium batch production, particularly at the smaller end of our weight range, where production is done on our boxless moulding line. Our website also shows examples of projects we have been involved with, both engineering and architectural, which gives some idea of our wide range of capabilities.

Production facilities
Our major items of plant are the melting furnaces, which are modern Inductotherm coreless induction furnaces, feeding an integrated Alkali Phenolic mixing and reclamation sand system provided by Omega Foundry Machinery Ltd.
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Terminology

Cast iron is a metal with a long history and a wide geographical area of production, both in the UK and abroad. As a result various terms have developed over the years to describe the different forms of cast iron. This can lead to confusion. Ordinary cast iron can be known simply as cast iron or as grey iron or flake graphite iron and ductile iron can be known as SG or spheroidal graphite. The alloyed irons have the same problem.

The wear resistant irons can be called Ni Hard, High Chrome or 28% Chrome whilst the high nickel heat and corrosion resistant irons can also be known as Ni Resist. Austempered ductile iron is often described by its initials ADI and compacted graphite iron can be known in the same way, CGI.

Production Standards

The universal nature of cast iron has also led to many national and international standards being used for its production. We manufacture to the latest version of the relevant ISO material standard. This can be a confusing area for a buyer, particularly when other national standards such as DIN, SAE or ASTM are specified. We are happy to advise on the correct ISO equivalent and where this not possible, to produce to an agreed alternative specification.

For grey iron this is ISO 185, the preceding version being BS 1452. BS EN 1561 is the current Euronorm standard. For ductile iron the current standard is ISO 1083, being preceded by BS 2789 whilst BS EN 1564 is the current Euronorm standard. Ni Hard or Chrome Iron is covered by ISO 21988, formerly BS 4844 with the Euronorm version being BS EN 12513. Ni Resist or Austenitic Iron is made to ISO 2892, formerly BS 3468 with the Euronorm being BS EN 13835. ADI uses BS ISO 17804, formerly BS EN 1564. Finally, compacted graphite iron, or CGI, is produced to ISO 16112. Where there is a current ISO and BS EN standard, these run in parallel.

Other Services

We supply a range of continuous cast bar in round and rectangular form in both grey and ductile iron. We can also quote for new pattern equipment, chemical and mechanical certification, any form of NDT or machining and finally surface finishing such as painting or galvanising. We are also happy to provide information and advice on any aspect of iron casting production which can involve site visits. If a casting is not in our range of expertise, for example being a bronze alloy, we can usually suggest who to approach.

We are members of the Cast Metals Federation, the UK castings sector trade association, which allows us to keep abreast of the latest commercial, environmental and health and safety developments and also the Engineering Employers Federation which gives us a national voice to lobby on behalf of the engineering sector in the UK.

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