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Pattern Maker
Working to engineering drawings and specifications and using materials such as wood, aluminum and polymers, the pattern maker uses machine tools such as lathes, milling machines, drill presses and grinders, to create patterns for metal casting.
The pattern is a replica of the casting to be made, with appropriate shrinkage allowance added, and with features such as match plates, gates, and risers. Metal casting patterns are used in the foundry to create sand molds for the casting of metal objects. The pattern is placed in a flask and specially formulated sand is packed around the pattern to form the mold. The flask is separated, the pattern removed, and the flask reassembled, ready for the molten metal to be poured into the mold, filling the cavity formed by the pattern to create the desired metal casting.