Casting Yield Calculator: Pour Weight, Yield Percent and Charge per Good Casting
Casting yield is the share of the metal you pour that ends up as a saleable casting. Gates and risers are not waste in the metallurgical sense because they are remelted, but they cost melting energy, labour and melt loss every time. This calculator shows yield for one mold and the true metal charge per good casting.
Your numbers
Finished casting weight before machining, from the pattern or a weighed sample.
Pouring basin remnant, sprue, runner, ingates and any filter print metal.
Total weight of all risers, necks and padding that will be cut off.
Share of castings rejected after cleaning and inspection.
Oxidation, slag and spillage between charge and tapped metal.
Your results
Planning calculator. Use weighed pour data from your own foundry for costing and quoting.
Casting yield vs riser weight
Sweeps Riser and feeder weight from 0 to 20, holding your other inputs fixed.
Model pour weight and revert in your ERP
Optional: a short review of how your ERP records gating, revert and melt loss against casting items.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use the calculator
Enter the net casting weight, the combined gating weight and the combined riser weight for one mold. If a mold carries several castings, enter the totals for all of them and treat the result as per mold. Add your scrap rate and melt loss to see the overall yield. The chart sweeps riser weight so you can see how much yield a riser redesign could recover before you cut a new pattern.
- Weigh a real poured mold before cleaning if you can
- Use the same units for all weights
- Update scrap rate from the last quarter, not a target
The formula behind it
Yield percent equals casting weight divided by pour weight, times 100. Pour weight is casting plus gating plus risers. Charge per good casting divides the pour weight by one minus scrap rate and again by one minus melt loss, because every scrapped mold and every kilogram oxidised in the furnace has to be replaced. Overall yield is casting weight divided by that charge. Typical sand iron yields are often in the range of 50 to 75 percent and steel yields can be lower, but your own data matters more than any rule of thumb.
How to read the result
A low yield means you are melting, pouring and cleaning a lot of metal that is later cut off. Improving yield by moving to exothermic or insulating sleeves, better feeding design, naturally pressurised gating or fewer, larger castings per mold reduces melt energy and cleaning room cost. Watch the trade-off: removing riser volume can cause shrinkage defects, which raises scrap and can cancel the gain. Solidification simulation or a trial pour should confirm any riser reduction.
Common mistakes and ERP notes
Do not mix net casting weight with machined weight, and do not forget filter, chill and core weights if they affect metal consumption. In an ERP the casting is usually a manufactured item and the gating is a co-product or revert. A routing or BOM that holds only the casting weight will understate metal consumption, so planners under-order charge material. Many foundries store pour weight as a separate planning attribute.
- Using target scrap instead of actual scrap
- Ignoring melt loss in the cost roll-up
- Forgetting that revert is already paid for metal, not free metal
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good casting yield?
It depends on alloy, process and casting shape. Sand iron castings often land somewhere around 50 to 75 percent, steel castings are usually lower, and investment casting varies widely. Compare against your own history for the same part family rather than an industry headline.
Is revert metal a loss?
No. Gates and risers are remelted, so the metal is recovered. The cost is melting energy, labour, alloy burn-off and melt loss on each remelt, plus the cleaning room time to cut and grind them off. That is why higher yield still lowers cost.
How do I include multiple castings per mold?
Enter the total casting weight of all cavities as the casting weight, and the total gating and riser weight for the whole mold. The result is then yield per mold, which is the same ratio as yield per casting if the cavities are identical.
Does this work for die casting and investment casting?
Yes, the arithmetic is the same. For die casting, enter shot weight breakdown as casting, runner and overflows. For investment casting, enter the tree weights. Scrap and melt loss assumptions will differ, so use figures from that process.
If your ERP bill of material does not carry pour weight, revert and melt loss, we can help you model that metal flow so planning and costing match the furnace floor.
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