History

In the early 1960’s, journeyman pattern maker Wally Thompson created a number marine manifold patterns that ended up proving too complex for any of the local foundries to use. Being a keen solver of problems, he soon realized that the best chance he would have to get a quality casting, was to mold & pour it himself. So in 1963, in a small building located in Coal Harbor in the City of Vancouver, Thompson Foundry began pouring and machining marine manifolds. Good word got out, and soon other casting work was being taken on - from there the foundry began to grow...

Timeline

1963

• Thompson Foundry is established near Stanley Park in Vancouver
• Using gas reverb furnace for melting
• Molds were made olivine green sand
• Created mostly cast iron marine manifolds

1971

• Moved to new building in Surrey in a new industrial area
• 6 employees
• Now working with cast iron and ductile iron
• Created marine manifolds, pump parts, gear boxes, and did general industry castings

1981

• Expanded building
• Retired gas reverb furnace and installed a 2200lb ABB medium frequency induction furnace
• Now working with cast iron, ductile iron, Nihard and NiResist alloys
• Company expanded to 18 employees
• Castings range expanded to marine manifolds, pump parts, gear boxes, mining castings, pulp and paper castings & consumable wear parts

1992

• Installed additional 800 lb and 1100 lb Inductotherm induction furnaces
• Installed large dust collection system in pattern shop
• Installed metallurgy lab with ARL 3460 spectrometer
• Installed heat treat
• Began production of mild steel and stainless steel castings

1993

• Bought new MIG welder & equipment for fabrication area

1995

• Installed Palmer high speed sand mixer
• Began creating No-Bake molds for cast iron, ductile iron, and white iron
• Added milling machine to pattern shop

1996

• Installed 5 ton bridge crane in green sand shakeout area
• Upgraded the green sand shakeout and sand handling system
• Upgraded dust collection system
• Added sand heater for No-Bake molding line
• Installed No-Bake spray washing system

1998

• Installed sand testing lab
• Upgraded Palmer mixer to handle 2 resin systems
• Replaced original heat treat with a larger gas heat treat

1999

• Installed pallet tracks & hydraulic lifting system on green sand molding line
• Installed 2 new 600 amp welders and built a designated arc gouge work station

2001

• Installed new sand silo and pneumatic sand transport system for the nobake mixer
• Added 2 x 30" disc sanders to pattern shop
• Added a second heat treat furnace

2002

• Installed a larger planer and joiner to pattern shop

2004

• Added additional space for pattern storage
• Upgraded magnetic separator on green sand handling system
• Installed larger wood lathe for pattern shop
• Added TIG welder to fabrication area
• Upgraded all control electronics in ABB induction furnace

2005

• Expanded green sand delivery system into floor molding area
• Upgraded Palmer mixer to 250 lbs per minute with oxide feeder
• Change mixer to one binder system only
• Added large compaction table to No-Bake molding station
• Added new 2-track pouring line, dedicated to No-Bake mold handling and sand reclamation
• Added more space for pattern storage - again

2006

• Upgraded cope and drag molding machines with new 16², 24² & 30² insert board system
• Installed 6Ton per hour No-Bake silica sand reclaim system
• Installed dedicated reclaim sand silo, sand transporter and dust collector to support sand reclaim system
• Installed sand heater for reclaimed silica sand
• Installed sand blending system on No-Bake mixer, typically 30% new and 70% used sand.
• Installed two overhead cranes in the No-Bake molding area

2007

• Completed No-Bake molding line and optimized its operation.
• Installed 5 ton bridge crane with crane scale in melt raw material staging area.
• Added third heat treat.

2008

• Started using synthetic (cerabead) sand for specialty cores
• Added to pattern storage – one more time
• Installed variable speed drive air compressor and integrated with existing compressor, giving us 125 hp of compressed air capacity
• Installed hoppers for overhead sand storage in green sand preparation area.
• Installed dual processor work station to run SOLIDWORKS in conjunction with solidification modeling
• Installed Solidification modeling using SUTcast
• Became Western Canadian distributor of Wear Protec Epoxy – our p/n TF1010

2009

• Added an access platform and increased pattern storage capacity
• Modified No-Bake molding line with additional track and storage space
• Improved No-Bake mold clamping system to eliminate the need for loose clamps and weights; TF designed & manufactured cast clamps/wedges
• Installed new ventilation system in the welding shop
• Modified dust collection system to improve the removal of fines from the No-Bake sand transport system
• Added No-Bake mold flow coating system

2010

• Increased pattern storage area
• Acquired customer list, production records and other technical information from Midan foundry
• Initiated core room reposition and updated work flow layout
• Redesigned pattern preparation area
• Updated No-Bake molding area layout and increased mold storage space
• Added capabilities to make Log Marking Hammers

2011

• Completed reposition of core room, shell core machine and Iso-cure blower
• Installed second Palmer 3 pump No-Bake sand mixer, setup for Alphaset or Sodium Silicate binders and silica or olivine sand
• Switched Manganese steel production from green sand to olivine No-Bake molding system
• Complete redesign/expansion of silica No-Bake molding area, with increased pattern staging and mold storage
•  Added second mold wash mixer setup for larger No-Bake molds
• Installed Precix 3-axis CNC router in pattern shop
• Installed larger disc sander and spindle sander in the pattern shop
• Installed larger milling machine in the pattern shop

2012

• Added Intel core i7-990X CPU pc that can run 12 threads (allowing us to run large simulations)
• Purchased third Palmer sand mixer, setup for pepset
• 3rd journeyman pattern maker hired to keep up with the pattern shop demands
• Installed new SpectroMAXX spectrometer with 10 alloy calibration ranges

2013

• Moved third No-Bake mixer into core-room and dedicate its use to pepset and silica or Cerabead sands
• Designed/Implemented leaner manufacturing work-flow throughout the foundry

2014

• Installed new pouring monorail with increased capacity, allowing us to handle up to 3400 lbs gross weight
• Added second catalyst pump to core-room No-Bake mixer
• Complete GAP analysis of our Health and Safety program, and start working with FIOSA-MIOSA on an updated comprehensive H&S program
• Purchased 2^nd Toyota forklift  

2015

• Acquired the intellectual property, patterns & miscellaneous equipment relating to the Jaw Clutch product line from Wallace Machine & Mfg. Ltd
  Began manufacturing/selling TF versions of the Link-Belt/Wallace Jaw Clutch assemblies  

2016

• Initiated redesign of company website and focus on marketing products and services

2017

• Fabricated & initiated use of portable pouring deck segments – increasing capacity and safety simultaneously
• Begin using Solidcast for casting simulations
• Completed extensive reworking of our melt operations and melt processing by improving documentation so that no single person is critical to the melting