Part One — From Furnace to Finished Casting: The Designer's Journey

Most design guidelines tell you what to do. This guide explains why — and what actually happens to your part when you get it wrong. Part One of the High Pressure Die Casting series takes engineers who design die cast parts through the complete production journey, from the moment metal is melted in the furnace to the moment the casting is ejected from the die. Along the way it covers the difference between cold and hot chamber machines, what aluminum, zinc, and magnesium each demand from the designer, and how decisions about wall thickness, draft angle, ribs, and section changes play out in milliseconds of metal fill. Part of the Combating Engineering Mindblindness series.

Part 1 Audiobook link → https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zdfj585z22aovmq0lypmq/Designer_Journey_HPDC_part1_McFadden_7May2026.mp3?rlkey=809ypvtftrfai7bhijsnbt922&st=8cl697jj&dl=0

Part Two — Gating, Porosity, Surface Treatments & Design for Manufacture

The finish on your die cast part does not tell you the truth. The naked casting does. Part Two picks up where the production journey ends and goes deeper into the decisions that follow — the gating system and what it means for weld lines and flow quality, porosity and its roots in design choices, and why every designer should see the as-cast shot before any plating or coating is applied. It also covers the metallurgical consequences of surface treatment specifications, what shot ratio and melt condition mean for part integrity, and how to design for the secondary operations that follow casting. Part of the Combating Engineering Mindblindness series.

Part 2 Audiobook → https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/b4i0uislu4968c14gsdmh/Designer_Journey_HPDC_part2_McFadden_7May2026.mp3?rlkey=rvpbn09tub1vhk33m9qoungz3&st=f60re4ju&dl=0