FAQs | Custom Steel Forging Services for OEMs
Donlouco is a supplier of quality-assured steel forgings to customers primarily in the hydraulics industry. Forging is a cost-effective manufacturing process to produce very tough and strong components with excellent grain structure.
Most forgings will require secondary finishing such as CNC machining before being delivered to customers, which is something that Donlouco also manage.
What Types of Forging Can Donlouco Offer?
Closed-Die Drop Forging is Widely Used in Manufacturing Parts.
There are many different types of forging that can be used to manufacture steel parts. One widely used forging method for steel is closed-die drop forging. During this process, the hot metal workpiece compresses between two dies, forming it into the required shape utilizing a completely closed die process.
Other common forging methods include:
Hammer Forging
Press Forging
Roll Forging
Upset Forging
Impression Die Forging
Precision Forging
Open Die Forging
Learn more about our forging process for steel parts.
What Materials Does Donlouco Specialise in Forging?
In general, the parts that Donlouco manufacture are made from steel. All steel grades used in manufacturing meet customer requirements and European standards.
Our Forged Parts Manufactured From All Steel Grades.
The biggest advantage of machine forging is that most of the metals can be forged into the desired shape. Each metal comes with a distinct set of characteristics that can be best used for specific parts depending on the requirement.
Some of the common forged metals are:
Aluminium
Alloy Steel
Stainless Steel
Brass
Carbon Steel
Titanium
Copper
Forging results in an excellent grain structure in the steel material which is the key attribute to improving the strength and toughness.
How Does Donlouco Ensure Every Batch of Parts Meets Quality Requirements?
Regular Quality Checks are Carried Out by Engineers.
Forged parts can be fully tensile and impact tested at the approval stage and by sampling as required. All parts are fully checked and inspected before shipping with full traceability and reports available with all shipments.
Other quality checks regularly carried out during the manufacturing process include:
Visual inspections.
Dimensional checks.
Donlouco is EN 1090 and ISO 9001 approved for the CE Stamping of parts. ISO 9001 is an internationally recognised standard for Quality Assurance.
What Industries Does Donlouco Serve?
Donlouco predominately serves OEMs in the automotive, industrial tools, hydraulics, and material handling industries that require heavy-duty forged steel components.
Donlouco supplies many types of forged parts to the hydraulics industry in Ireland and the UK.
Learn more about the industries Donlouco works closely with.
What Types of Forged Parts Does Donlouco Produce?
Donlouco manufactures and supplies a wide range of customer-specific parts mainly for the hydraulics industry. These parts include but are not limited to cylinder bases, flanged components, forged cylinder rod ends, forged and machined hydraulic cylinder trunnions, and forged hydraulic cylinder clevis.
Learn more about the hydraulic cylinder parts we supply.
What Secondary Processes Can Donlouco Offer for Forged Parts?
Depending on the requirements of the parts, forgings can be subjected to secondary finishing operations before the parts are ready for the customer. Additional steps may include secondary CNC milling or drilling. Finishing techniques such as dipping, sandblasting and shot blasting can be used to create the desired surface finish.
Forged Parts can be Secondary CNC Machined to Exact Customer Requirements.
What is the Tooling Process for Forged Parts?
Forging tools are designed and managed and can be reversed-engineered from finished part drawings by Donlouco.
Where tools and fixtures are required to make parts, which is typically the case, Donlouco manages all of these activities directly. This includes tooling companies, subcontractors and in some cases raw material suppliers with no drain on resources from the customer.
Our tooling services include tooling for forged and cast parts requiring secondary machining and parts requiring complex fixtures to achieve reliable and repeatable accuracy at all times.
