Compared with sand castings, die castings require much less machining; can be made with thinner walls; can have all or nearly all holes cored to size; can be held within much closer dimensional limits; are produced more rapidly in dies which make thousands of die castings without replacement; do not require new cores for each casting; are easily provided with inserts die cast in place; have smoother surfaces and involve much less labor cost per casting. Sand castings, on the other hand, can be made from ferrous metals and from many non-ferrous alloys not suitable for die casting. Shapes not producible by die casting are available in sand castings; maximum size can be greater; tooling cost is often less and small quantities can be produced more economically.