This photograph shows 3 x 38" x 7" DC casting moulds and their associated stools ( dummies or start up blocks), fitted to the tilt frame on a Gautschi DC casting machine. The tooling here was used to cast the superplastic alloy AA2004 ( a Cu-Zr alloy) that was supplied to the Superform Metals company in Worcester in the UK. This alloy was widely used for specialty deep drawn applications with limited tooling runs in the aerospace, rail and architectural buildings sector. After the closure of the Rheola facility this product was transferred to Aluminium Corporation in Dolgarrog, North Wales. After the closure of the Dolgarrog Aluminium Works in 2007 production moved to Magnesium Elektron in Manchester where the product is still produced today.

The 38 x 7" slabs at full length (156") weighed around two tonnes and were cut into 72" lengths prior to rolling on the hot break down mill followed by cold rolling.