Molding Equipment

equipment for the production of casting molds. Molding equipment is classified as molding machines, sand slingers, and various types of core-blowing machines, depending on the working process involved.

Molding machines mechanize the packing of molding sand into flasks and the removal of patterns. One type of machine inverts mold halves and pushes them onto an assembly roller conveyor. Molding machines may be classified according to the type of power used for the drive mechanism (pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical, and electromagnetic), the method of packing the molding sand in the flask (jolting, jolting and squeezing, squeezing, and vibration squeezing), or the means used to remove the patterns (with trunnions or frames to lift the mold half or with a turntable or tilting bed). One type of machine is designed to produce cope (upper) halves and operates in pair with a machine for the production of drag (lower) halves. This combination is highly efficient, since it eliminates the need to invert the drag half during assembly of the mold. The production of one-piece molds on a single machine is restricted to small castings, for which tapered slip flasks are used.

Sand slingers mechanize the pouring of molding sand into the flask; they use an impeller head to pack the sand. Various types of core-blowing machines use compressed air for packing. The pattern can then be mechanically withdrawn from the mold.

Modern foundry shops use semiautomatic and automatic molding machines and automatic molding assembly lines that mechanize all the operations for the production and assembly of molds, with the exception of placement of the cores.