Report - Derwent Castings Ltd., Whatstandwell December 2018

[mookster]

The foundry at Whatstandwell was opened in 1946 utilising the buildings of a former saw mill dating from 1880 at the rear of the site. The foundry, owned by Wragg & Hawksley produced cast iron pipes for the water industry. In 1950 it was bought by WH Davis & Sons to supply castings for their railway wagon business, and following a management buyout was renamed Derwent Foundry in 1984. It closed for the first time in 2002 but was reopened soon after and renamed Derwent Castings Ltd., before it closed for good in 2015.

I'm not sure why I never got around to posting this one, I think I simply overlooked it and I wasn't particularly enamoured with my photos from it either so maybe apathy came over me. Looking back at it, it was a fine example of the sort of smaller scale British industry I love to document, a place which had a real sort of 'make do and mend' attitude towards site maintenance and fixtures, with old railway sleepers being used as flooring and original Second World War-era stretchers repurposed as shelving units. A nice relaxed visit was had, being careful to avoid the gentleman working out of one of the units at the front of the site, although the bulk of the main foundry building was empty the mould storage sheds and side rooms had some great stuff in them.

I believe it was demolished earlier this year, I'm sure a Derbyshire local will be able to confirm.

Thanks for looking ​

 

[host]

Great report, too many workers when I went.

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Lovely little place this nicely captured

 

[HughieD]

Loved this place. Nothing wrong with them pics. Apparently is all gone now?

 

[Calamity Jane]

Nice report this. Great repurposing of items.

 

[Jane Doe]

That is very nice

 

[bikebouy]

A few things to note, the picture of the metal racking, with the red fire extinguisher in front, looks like the metal stretchers made during world war 2 or the cold war to transport the injured, and there used as bunk beds or storage shelves.

all pattern store racking was made of wood usually as it did not damage the patterns and ws always slated as to stop dust/sand/crap building up on the shelves, as some patterns may be used once and then not again for many years.

All the patterns are painted Red for iron castings, the black bits signify cores, hollow bits that are inserted into the mould cavity , to form voids etc.

All those patterns where made to very close tolerances possibly 1/16 of an inch out of timber and plywood, by skilled men, who did a 6 year apprenticeship , reduced to 4 years as time evolved..

I served my time as a Patternamaker.

 

[host]

Can anyone confirm if this has been cleared

 

[MotionlessMike]

Can anyone confirm if this has been cleared

It's either gone or has a new lease of life under the name 'Whatstandwell Foundry' I've heard both. Certainly by the end of summer last year some of it had gone... Either way I wouldn't waste your time mate

 

[Scoobysrt]

All those patterns where made to very close tolerances possibly 1/16 of an inch out of timber and plywood,

I presume with that much of a tolerance they don't need to allow for shrinkage?

 

[bikebouy]

Hi
[B]Scoobysrt[/B] Patternmakers use a contraction ruler like an ordinary ruler but longer each inch is slightly longer than a normal inch so patterns are made bigger than the actual size of the casting required, there is also a machining allowance added onto to parts that need to be machined to mate with each other or to fit into set places on a finished assembly so simply put a pattern for a cylinder may be 1/120 contraction allowance, longer and a 1/4 inch added each end for machining.

Different metals have different contraction allowances so the same scale on the contraction rule needs to be used on the same pattern dependant on what metal is going to be cast.

 

[Scoobysrt]

Been an engineer for 30 years, never heard of a contraction ruler, now I want one lol. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[bikebouy]

This explains it quite easily if you look at the pictures and read the text further down

Chesterman 24" Rule

Received this by email I have in my possession a Chesterman 24 inch steel ruler but upon comparing it against a tape measure I find that it is only 23 inches and the metric scale showing 61 cm is actually 59 cms. It appears to be rather old and I cannot understand why there would be a difference ...

www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk

Its a problem is somebody uses the wrong contraction scale for a Pattern and then realises and then re starts with the correct one, especially on big stuff, some patterns i worked on where 10foot diameter, or another was an Ingot mould 7 foot long and 3 foot 6 square, and hollow, another was a casting trumpet, 9 foot long and about 15 inch diameter, and hollow , core was made seperate, all done by hand tools and a bit off a circular saw and planer.

 

[Scoobysrt]

Ive machined castings large and small but never cast metal stuff myself.
3d printing patterns seems to be taking over now.