System for supporting castings during thermal treatment

A system for supporting castings during thermal treatments including one or more of solution heat treatment, quenching and aging, the system comprising:

• a tray defining a horizontal base plane and having a plurality of tray openings therethrough;
• and
• a fixture extending over at least one tray opening, the fixture comprising a plurality of support plates,
• each support plate of said plurality of support plates defining a lower portion extending across the at least one tray opening and a top edge extending above the at least one tray opening, the top edge having a shaped profile along the length thereof,
• the top edges of the plurality of support plates together defining an open support surface configured to loosely support a casting atop the open support surface and orientate the casting in space above the tray opening,
• wherein the top edge of each support plate of the plurality of support plates comprises at least a first edge-segment, a second edge-segment, and a third edge-segment, at least two adjacent ones of said edge-segments adjoining at a common point on said top edge and sloping downwardly from said common point, the first, second and third edge-segments having perpendicular bisectors that are not parallel to one another.