This sequence shows DC casting of rolling slab in the Foundry at Rheola. Here two large slabs between 38" and 51" wide and up to 14" thick are being lifted out of the semi-continuous DC casting pit at the end of a succesful drop. The slab would be dropped by wire rope hoist with one end onto the trolley in the foreground. The trolley would then run away across the floor as the slab was lowered into a horizontal position. This then allowed a forklift truck to carry it into the adjacent AL1 bay (former cell room designation) for scalping on an Ingersoll rotary head scalping machine.

This picture shows two DC casting moulds set up ready for an aluminium slab cast to commence. The two (picture) frames on the left and right are supporting floating distributors - known as "floats" in the trade. The left hand shows an Insural or Monalite aluminosilcate board float from Foseco, whilst the one on the right is a fabricated perforated sheet metal construction. In theory the perfortions allowed metal to flow underneath the float to prevent it being " cast in" at the start of the drop. An insulated trough with dip tubes ( or spouts) is required to feed liquid aluminium from the holding furance to the casting head pictured here.