Author Archives: Bernard and Company

MAGMA, Sea Scouts, Castings and Sea Shells…Foundry Market Leader Teaches Next Generation

In March 2013, representatives from MAGMA Foundry Technologies used the Foundry in a Box, donated by AFS, to teach the Racine, Wisconsin Sea Scouts, Ship 5750, about metalcasting.  Sea Scouting is a division of the Boy Scouts of America for young men and women between 14 and 21 years old.  The group focuses on developing future leaders through developing maritime skills, both on and off the water.  The Scout group devotes their summer activities to sailing and their winter activities to learning manufacturing skills to produce useful items.  Previous projects included land sailing vessels, a pig roaster and rebuilding engines for use in boats.

During this past winter, the scouts focused on developing their metalworking skills by making wind vanes using welding, grinding, machining and plasma cutting technologies.  This project had all the Scouts excited about metalworking and it created a great opportunity to expose them to metalcasting technology, where Magma is the market leader in casting simulation and process optimization for foundries worldwide.

The meeting was kicked off with a short presentation about metalcasting and how this 6,000-year-old process relates to products the Scouts use every day.  The Scouts were then allowed to get started with a hands-on project, with each Scout creating a mold, melting the metal, pouring the casting and cleaning the castings.  Some Scouts used the standard patterns that came with the Foundry in a Box, while others were more adventurous and tried making their own patterns, one being sea shells. A final presentation was made, tying in this age-old process with advanced casting process simulation technology to show what occurred inside the mold during the making of the Liberty Bell casting.

For more information on this story, please contact:
Christof Heisser
President
MAGMA Foundry Technologies, Inc.
10 N. Martingale Road, Suite 425
Schaumburg, IL 60173
Phone 847-969-1001, ext. 225
Email  cheisser@magmasoft.com
Web    www.magmasoft.com

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SIGMASOFT and RJG announce training session at Plastics News: Plastics in Medical Devices conference in Boston May 13-15

SIGMA Plastic Services will partner with RJG to provide a detailed training session to educate plastic injection molding professionals on cutting edge technologies that will assist in more successful product launches.

Working together with RJG at the Medical Devices conference, the goal is to provide attendees with a demonstration on how to utilize currently available technology to their best advantage. Reducing time to market with higher quality and repeatable molding processes are key to the future success of injection molding professionals and OEM’s.

RJG and SIGMA will take you through the critical steps from product design to production with best practices for successful, profitable molding. Develop and merge the part design, the polymer, the mold, and the process in a virtual production environment where all of the critical aspects related to profitable part quality can be evaluated and optimized before the actual mold is ever built.

This is an actual workshop with worksheets and exercises that can be used to develop improved communications within your work environment.

What areas of the part design are the most critical?

Should the mold insert be P20, H13, or a Cu based alloy?

Where are the most critical areas for cooling?

What will the cycle time be?

Is the distortion related to fiber orientation or temperature?

Can it be controlled with packing?

Will it be pressure limited when the viscosity shifts?

How big is the process window?

Can the process be maintained?

Where do we need sensors?

How to contain parts produces outside of the process window

Virtually develop and optimize the mold and the process together, before the mold is ever built. Verify the appropriate molding machines are capable and available. Ensure the best process is developed, used and repeated, in spite of day to day variation in the production environment.

If the mold is already built and the part dimensions from the quoted 30s cycle are out of spec, what are you going to do about it, other than lose money…..? There are more profitable ways of doing things.

For more information, contact:

Matt Proske
Vice President
SIGMA Plastic Services, Inc.
10 N. Martingale Road, Suite 425
Schaumburg, IL 60173
Phone 847-558-5602
Email   contact@3dsigma.com
Web     www.3dsigma.com

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Rubber Forming Pad History: Comparisons of Materials and Introduction of Gümmilast Polyurethane for Forming Pads and Fluid Cells

Short run forming of complex sheet metal shapes using rubber dies and pads is quick and highly effective.  This technique was first accomplished using the Guerin Process.  After the Second World War, the Wheelon process was developed as an improvement over the Guerin Process.  A Wheelon press is capable of manufacturing large, complex, short run parts with economic tooling.  This type of hydraulically actuated bladder forming is widely used in the aerospace industry today.

When the Wheelon process was first employed, the forming press fluid cells and forming pads were made of Neoprene rubber.  The Neoprene formulations of the day were developed by rubber molders’ chemists.  Their formulas were proprietary and highly secretive.

The high grade formulation of Neoprene used was an excellent material for the function of forming pads and fluid cells.  It was tough, had very high extensibility, good cut resistance, excellent oil resistance and produced good detail with moderate pressures.

This was the standard material for Wheelon forming pads and fluid cells for many years.  However, as the U.S. industrial rubber goods industry matured, its productive capacity diminished.  The industry lost the capacity and knowledge required to make Neoprene pads and cells.  There are presently no suppliers of rubber Wheelon or Guerin cells or pads in North America.

Fortunately, there was capacity to produce these parts from polyurethane.  Polyurethane is a synthetic elastomer that is far stronger than Neoprene.  Polyurethane has greater cut resistance, more abrasion resistance, greater tensile strength and has suitably high elongation for effective use in the Wheelon process.

Polyurethane is also a more environmentally stable material than the original Neoprene.  Most often, when installing forming pads and upon starting forming operations, the Neoprene would be “dried out”.  This would lead to shrinkage of the pad and increased stiffness.  In order to install the pad and/or start the operation, it would be necessary to heat the Neoprene to restore it to its original softness and resilience.  Polyurethane is far more consistent, retaining its size, shape and maintaining its softness and resilience.  This eliminates the need for heat “rejuvenation”.

However, in spite of the superiority of the physical properties of polyurethane over the previously used Neoprene, there is a drawback to polyurethane.  Due to its increased strength and toughness, far greater pressures must be employed to achieve acceptable part definition and this results in greater strain on the press, its components and some reduction in forming definition.

Some of the difficulties encountered with the use of commercial and even Kastalon KAS43210AE forming pads and cells are:

• Increased wear and maintenance of the press due to the high degree of loading
• Decreased press life
• Reduction in size capacity
• Reduced part definition requiring increased handwork
• Increased set-up time, due to the need for more accurate filler/intensifier pad placement
• The risk of damage to the forming pad if the press filler/intensifier pads are not properly used
• Increased tendency for forming pad extrusion due to higher pressures
• Increased risk of catastrophic failures
• The inability to make field repairs

The challenge to industry has been to create a material that has polyurethane’s toughness and the extensibility of the lost Neoprene material.

Our initial discoveries led us to improve the traditional polyurethane formulations to increase extensibility, reduce working pressure and improve cut and tear strength in the “mid extension” ranges where these pads operate.  However, this was only a compromise and a temporary solution to producing a forming pad with superior performance.

After years of continuing research, a hybrid polyurethane compound, trademarked Gümmilast by Kastalon, has been developed.  The properties of Gümmilast are very similar to the original Neoprene in performance and exceed the toughness of traditional polyurethane.  A comparison of the original Neoprene, Gümmilast, Kastalon KAS43210AE and commercial polyurethane is presented in the following table.

Physical Properties: Traditional Neoprene vs. Polyurethane

	Neoprene	Gümmilast KAS021909A	Kastalon KAS43210AE	Commercial PUR
Hardness,Shore ATensile, psi	55-602,002 psi	602850	704153	704660
Elongation	773 %	774	694	630
25% modulus	92 psi	133	201	221
50%	119 psi	184	260	282
100%	157 psi	229	340	360
200%	277 psi	262	434	475
300%	472 psi	337	522	670
400%	741 psi	471	738	985
Split tear	228 psi	191	181	185
Dynamic modulus	289	372	733	836

The similarity between Gümmilast and the original Neoprene is apparent.  In the operating range extension (250-400%), previously available polyurethanes create far higher internal stresses.  The rapid increase of these stresses in this operational strain range leads to need for higher pressure and less definition.  This makes tool design and the use of intensifier pads highly critical.

When using Gümmilast, the reduction in operating pressure will yield greater press life, while offering greater part definition.

Life testing of Gümmilast pads and cells is ongoing.  To date, Kastalon anticipates 3-6 times the life of Improved Kastalon Polyurethane and an even greater life over commercial polyurethane.

In conclusion, Kastalon Gümmilast will provide the Wheelon Process user with a material that offers similar process ease, forming definition and reparability as experienced with the original rubber and providing significantly improved life over commercial polyurethane.  Gümmilast is also available for hydroforming bladders, throw pads and Guerin Process pads.

Kastalon Gümmilast products are available from your press parts provider or from Kastalon, Inc.

For more information on this product, please contact:

KASTALON, INC.
4100 W. 124^th Place
Alsip, IL 60803
Phone:  708-389-2210
Fax:  708-389-0432
Web:  www.kastalon.com/engineering-guide.php
Email:  sales@kastalon.com
Attention:  Marty Pokorney

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Three-level Rotary Hearth Oven for Curing Sealant

No. 1029 is a 500ºF, three-level rotary hearth electric oven from Grieve, currently used for curing sealant onto molded plastic parts at the customer’s facility.  Workspace dimensions on this oven measure 36” W x 32” D x 30” H.   24 KW are installed in Incoloy-sheathed tubular elements to heat the oven chamber, while a 1000 CFM, 1-HP recirculating blower provides horizontal airflow, front to rear, across the workload.

This Grieve rotary hearth oven features 6” insulated walls, Type 304, 2B stainless steel interior, integral leg stand, an 8” W x 23” H front access opening built into the oven door and a 30” diameter three-level hearth constructed from perforated steel sheet and driven by a ¼-HP motor through a gear reducer with torque limiting device.

Controls onboard No. 1029 include a digital indicating temperature controller, manual reset excess temperature controller with separate contactors, recirculating blower airflow safety switch, circuit breaker disconnect switch plus a proximity switch and 12-tooth sprocket to index the hearth a 1/12 rotation per index.

For more information, please contact:

THE GRIEVE CORPORATION
500 Hart Road
Round Lake, IL 60073-2898
Phone: (847) 546-8225
Fax: (847) 546-9210
Web: www.grievecorp.com
Email: sales@grievecorp.com
Attention: Frank Calabrese, VP

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Jennerjahn Realizes Time Savings Up To Two-thirds on New Control Platform Implementation

Three-drum surface slitter rewinder outfitted with Siemens hardware and software achieves Category 4 safety standard with space savings and more flexibility in design

Jennerjahn, located in Matthews, Indiana, is a manufacturer of assorted lines of narrow and wide web slitter rewinders and custom machinery used by converters of point-of-sale cash register rolls, ATM rolls, lottery rolls and a variety of tape rolls, as well as a wide range of paper and other products, including laminating film, plotter paper, house wrap, landscaping products, vinyl billboard sheeting, flexible packages, box tape, roofing underlayment and other construction materials.  Founded in 1978, the company also provides customer solutions for roll handling and roll packaging equipment.  Today, Jennerjahn equipment can be found in markets worldwide.

On a recent job for a building products company in Australia, the Jennerjahn engineering team, led by Roger Vogel and Will Adams, was confronted with a unique set of requirements on a 120-inch wide, three-drum surface slitter rewinder, a variation of the company’s standard Model JLS-120, to be used to wind a variety of non-woven web materials, used in the construction industry.  The machine required five axes of motion control.  The JLS line features an unwind with pneumatic braking, a driven surface winder and driven lay-on roll.  The machine typically slits a web into multiple sections and the surface winder winds a small diameter roll to a precise length.

The customer required a Category 4, SIL 3 safety system, with components to support a local 415VAC, three-phase electrical power supply.  As Jennerjahn senior controls engineer Will Adams explains, “We discussed the job with the applications engineering team at our local distributor and the decision was made to utilize a total package of Siemens hardware and control software, including Simatic PLC, Sinamics drives, HMI and a Profibus DP communications network.”  While Jennerjahn had utilized Siemens products in the past, this machine requirement was a particular challenge, owing to the safety requirements, in particular.  The builder was seeking a solution that would not require adding large amounts of relays and other hardware to meet the customer needs, plus the Jennerjahn team wanted to utilize the standard controls enclosures on the JLS-120 for this job.  Adams continues, “The integrated safety features on the Siemens S7-300 PLC, plus the ability to execute a position move within the drive and also have those drives operate within a wide voltage range allowed us to meet the Category 4 safety level for our customer.”  He further notes that the compact “bookend” design of the drives enabled Jennerjahn to use the standard enclosure on their machine.  Previous JLS machines used AC/AC drives for all drive requirements.  On this machine, there were three additional ancillary axes, so the use of the Siemens S120 booksize drive platform enabled the machine design to run all driven axes in a single drive.  The use of the integrated E-POS positioning block in the S120 drive system and a high-resolution sin/cos feedback on the surface winder permitted very precise roll lengths, as well, on this application.

In addition, many of the diagnostic features on the drive software helped the builder’s team with troubleshooting and start-up issues.  Finally, the I/O configuration of the Siemens platform “…allowed us to keep our existing distributed I/O layout with minimal system redesign,” said Adams.

The Jennerjahn team estimates that the implementation of the Siemens controls platform on this machine was achieved with a start-up time savings up to two-thirds, the result of various factors in the relationship between this builder, the controls vendor and the local distributor.  Will Adams explains, “Siemens provided us design assistance to verify the sizing information and specify the required drive hardware.  Our local distributor then provided a complete bill of materials to us, which saved us a great amount of time, owing to our lack of detailed knowledge about the Siemens products.” Adams also notes his company received several days of onsite engineering support provided by the controls supplier to help with drive set-up, network troubleshooting and the integrated safety program modifications required on this machine build.

Roger Vogel, engineering manager for Jennerjahn, adds, “This project went very smoothly for us, because the relatively few problems we had were quickly handled by the folks from Siemens and our local distributor, both in the hardware and software areas, plus overall automation integration scenario.  The training class we were offered was very well run and provided our team the extra information needed to successfully program the machine.”

Since 1978, Jennerjahn has been a leading supplier to the converting industry and today provides an international partner to the industry, offering the most efficient solutions to customer needs on a wide variety of end uses.  As a full line machine and ancillary equipment manufacturer, the company maintains a showroom of assorted automated slitter and rewind machinery, so any potential application can be tested, free of charge, according to the company’s website.

For more information on this story, please contact:

JENNERJAHN MACHINE, INC.
901 Massachusetts Avenue
Matthews, IN 46957
Phone:  765-998-2733
Fax:  765-998-2468
Web:  www.jennerjahn.com
Email:  sales@jennerjahn.com
Attention:  Chris Jennerjahn, Roger Vogel or Will Adams

or

SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC.
Drive Technologies — Motion Control
390 Kent Avenue
Elk Grove Village, IL  60007
Phone: 847-640-1595
Fax: 847-437-0784
Web:  www.usa.siemens.com/motioncontrol
Email:  SiemensMTBUMarCom.industry@siemens.com
Attention:  John Meyer, Manager, Marketing Communications

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EMAG Tackles Non-Productive Time on Its Machining Centers

EMAG has a long history, starting back in 1867 in Bautzen, Germany, as an iron foundry and engineering works. Re-established 60 years ago in Eislingen, Germany, in 1952 to make lathes and special-purpose machines, today it makes manufacturing systems for precision metal components from its headquarters in Salach, Germany. Its machines range from basic round-part vertical turning centers to machining centers with as many as six axes handling large workpieces. They perform turning, milling, grinding, hobbing, drilling and more as singular purpose setup or combination machines.

The tools manufacture primarily automotive, off-highway, agricultural and oil field components. For example, EMAG tools are involved in transmission components for agricultural vehicles, such as gears, ouput shafts and idlers. “If you look at a dozer from the outside, you have a chain,” notes Peter Loetzner, CEO of EMAG’s U.S. subsidiary in Farmington Hills, Mich. “There are two large precision wheels that drive that chain. There are idlers on the bottom. Our machine can make all these round components.”

EMAG’s equipment differs from typical vertical lathe machining centers, whose head stock is mounted, typically horizontally, and a turret turns to do the machining. “Our turret is mounted in a concrete base, so it’s not moving,” Loetzner explains. “We have a head stock that moves outside of that design. That gives us better precision and better tool life.”

The machine builder takes pride in its ability to produce high-precision parts. In one example, Axle Alliance in Redford, Mich., needed to hold to a 25 µm tolerance for 390 mm diameter steel ring gears during hard turning, which is done prior to grinding the gear teeth. EMAG worked with Axle Alliance to develop a probing process that ultimately delivered a variation of less than 15 µm. Axle Alliance now uses six machines built at EMAG’s headquarters in Germany, each dedicated to a part line.

Another example comes from Precima Magnettechnik in Brückeburg, Germany, whose customers expect absolute perfection from, in this case, housings for brakes used mainly for wind turbines. Precima had had issues with machine vibration causing negative effects on tool life and surface finish. However, the rigidity of EMAG’s turning machines and the vibration damping quality of the base allows for the very high feed rates and cutting speeds required in precision hard-machining. Precima now runs four vertical pick-up turning machines from EMAG.

Loetzner gives much of the credit for the machines’ capabilities to long-time partner Siemens. EMAG has standardized on the Siemens Sinumerik 840D CNC platform, specifically the solution line and power line. Loetzner likes, in particular, that the CNC controller is an integral part of the PLC, and they are able to do almost everything through the CNC, including making it look like a PC for the operator. The common look and feel for the operators makes for easier onsite commissioning and cross-training, Loetzner adds.

In one recent case study, EMAG needed to provide grinding, turning and turn-grind machines to a major agricultural equipment builder, and the machine builder relied on the 840D CNC. “We needed to devise a control solution that would satisfy all the needs of the various machines we were supplying to this demanding customer, based on a common platform, to enable easier design, integration, startup, commissioning on-site and training for our customer’s operations and maintenance personnel,” Loetzner said at the time.

Similar control technologies are used on EMAG’s newer-technology machines, including laser welding and electrochemical machining centers. These technologies have little impact on the control or automation schemes, Loetzner notes, because they still are essentially performing the same task, whether in a dry, lubed, gas-cooled or underwater environment. Only the sensors and encoders need to change to accurately feed the relevant data to the control. In fact, the controls are often much simpler because the axes of motion are fewer, though more multi-axis and workpiece manipulating machines are being developed.

The CNC also enables remote monitoring over a wireless network so that process engineers can see what the operator sees on each machine. The agricultural equipment customer mentioned has used the remote monitoring capability on a wide variety of EMAG machines for several years, with all data communicated through a single information network that’s accessible by both EMAG and Siemens. Through this arrangement, they have been able to significantly reduce downtime, service calls and troubleshooting identification time.

More than 75% of the EMAG machines at this customer site are equipped with robotic devices. The lights-out capabilities this provide make remote monitoring that much more important. Remote monitoring can be done directly through the Sinumerik CNC in a one-on-one exchange with the customer, Loetzner notes, or even a three-way exchange involving Siemens as well.

While happy with the precision capabilities, EMAG’s focus on future development is trying to decrease the downtime between producing components. “On the automation and the part handling, the challenge is you want the machine to run and make parts all the time, right? But once a part is done, you have to take it out and put the other in,” Loetzner says. “Those non-productive times are the biggest enemies.”

EMAG reduces those times partly by use of the Japanese chaku chaku principle. Meaning “loading loading,” the idea is to bring various process steps as close together as possible to improve the speed between the processes. EMAG’s vertical machining centers not only fill a much smaller footprint on the plant floor, they also improve chip flow. Also, all of EMAG’s machines are self-loading, with a servo-controlled shuttle traveling through the machine, but not through the work envelope, Loetzner notes.

“While we have shown the industry we can master any part to highest precision, over the last five years we’ve been more and more focused on tightening non-productive time,” Loetzner says. At IMTS in Chicago in September, 2012, EMAG showed a new machine generation that significantly reduces the non-value add times. “Our chip-to-chip time was between 6 and 7 seconds for typical automotive gear,” Loetzner says. “Now it would be a second or less.”

For more information:

Kristal Kilgore
EMAG LLC
38800 Grand River Avenue
Farmington Hills, MI 48335
Tel: (248) 875-0313
Fax: (248) 477-7784
E-mail: kkilgore@emag.com
Web: www.emag.com

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EMAG at IMTS 2012: VL 2 P

Check out Cutting Tool Engineering’s coverage of EMAG’s VL 2 P at IMTS 2012 HERE.

Contact for press and publishers:

EMAG LLC
38800 Grand River Avenue
Farmington Hills, MI 48335
Tel: (248) 875-0313
Fax: (248) 477-7784
E-mail: info@usa.emag.com
Web: www.emag.com

Attention: Peter Loetzner

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Hunter Announces Sale Made to Swedish Foundry

Skeppshult Gjuteri AB buys XL 2430 automatic matchplate molding machine from Hunter for cast iron cookware production  

SCHAUMBURG, IL — Hunter, the first name in automated matchplate molding machines, sand and mold handling equipment, announced today the sale of an XL 2430 molding machine to Skeppshult Gjuteri AB, a cast iron foundry in Skeppshult, Sweden, world-famous for its cast iron, no-stick cookware.  By adding organic rapeseed oil to the raw materials used here, this cast iron foundry pioneered non-stick cookware from its beginnings in 1906, under the direction of founder Carl Andersson.  Today, the company’s cookware is found in high-end restaurants and homes worldwide.

The foundry, located on the Nissan River in southern Sweden, is the last remaining cast iron cookware production facility in Scandinavia. Skeppshult cookware and other household items carry a 25-year guarantee, owing to the quality of materials, production and craftsmanship provided by this manufacturer.

The Hunter XL 2430 is used at Skeppshult Gjuteri AB for the production of sand molds, the technology employed at this cast iron foundry.

This sale was made through the European office of Hunter in Milan, Italy and overseen by the director of European Operations for the company, Dr. Paolo Nazari. The local Hunter representative for this success was HYBE Maskin AB of Halmstad, Sweden.

ABOUT THE COMPANY
Hunter Foundry Machinery Corporation was founded in 1964 as Hunter Automated Machinery Corporation with the invention of the first gravity-filled automated matchplate molding machine. This development established the company’s history of innovation and launched the foundry industry into a new industrial revolution. Pioneered by William “Al” Hunter in his garage, the original HMP-10 machine streamlined the laborious metal casting process by offering foundries unimagined new production capabilities, producing as many molds in one hour as most had been able to produce in an entire day. As industry demands grew, Hunter responded with advanced solutions such as automated mold handling equipment and coresetters.

Now in its 50th year, Hunter Foundry Machinery Corporation’s inventions have earned nearly 150 patents around the world. With more than 1,800 molding machines and mold handling systems installed around the world, the Hunter sales and service reach extends from its manufacturing sites in North America, South America and China through its offices in the U.S., Europe, Brazil, India and Shanghai to every corner of the globe. Sales and technical support, as well as the company’s $12 million parts inventory, serve to maintain each machine’s original production capability, as well as Hunter’s preeminence in the world market.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

HUNTER AUTOMATED MACHINERY CORPORATION
2222 Hammond Drive Schaumburg, IL 60196
Phone: (847) 397-5110
Fax: (847) 397-8254
Email: info@hunterfoundry.com
Attention:  Bill Hunter, CEO
Web: www.hunterfoundry.com
Connect with Hunter Foundry online:    

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Hunter Demonstrates JetSlinger™ at Cast Expo 2013

Impact-assisted flask filling addition to Hunter’s new HLM and successful XL product lines, JetSlinger helps increase mold production up to 300 percent.

SCHAUMBURG, IL — JetSlinger™, the newest add-on to industry innovator Hunter Foundry Machinery Corporation’s latest products, helps ensure improved pattern definition, as well as uniformity of mold hardness and surface integrity. The product, which shipped earlier this year, will be viewable at Cast Expo 2013 Booth #473. JetSlinger™ is an available option for the new Hunter HLM linear-motion machine, as well as a retrofit option for the company’s XL automated matchplate molding machines.

The JetSlinger™ is an air amplification apparatus based on the Venturi principle that accelerates sand into the cope and drag flasks on these Hunter machines.  It creates a powerful vacuum and jet exhaust that draws sand mixtures through an array of nozzle assemblies built into a manifold mounted directly below Fillaerator blades, then slings them into a flask.  It was invented by company president Bill Hunter. The JetSlinger™ design holds U.S. Patent Number US7819168B2, one of nearly 150 domestic and international patents granted to Hunter since its founding in 1964.

Key features and benefits of JetSlinger™ include:

• Impact-assisted flask filling, adjustable for cope and drag
• Venturi-action air amplification for sand mixture dispersion
• Perpendicular flask filling, superior to side blow fill, no shadow effect
• Improved mold production up to 300% on selected jobs
• Better pattern definition, uniformity of mold hardness and surface integrity

“In contrast to the conventional blow fill machines, no shroud, seals or vented flask assemblies, nor is the usual attendant maintenance required,” according to company president Bill Hunter. “Furthermore, JetSlinger™ allows foundries far greater flexibility, as well as the access needed to produce various castings with the use of chaplets, ram-up cores and exothermic risers,” he adds.

With its perpendicular fill, this impact-assisted device produces molds more quickly and with substantially improved surface quality, owing to the powered pre-compaction of the sand. This action results in greater uniformity of mold density and wall hardness, without sacrificing the accessibility and flexibility of a gravity fill machine. Additionally, the JetSlinger™ achieves a flask filling operation that compensates for the types of mold quality limitations that are often caused by the flowability of the sand and pattern configuration during the high-pressure squeeze cycle. The basic operation of the JetSlinger^TM is as follows:

1)      Sand mixture is loaded into a hopper
2)      Hopper gates open
3)      Rotating Fillaerator blades aerate the mixture
4)      Mixture is delivered into the Venturi action air acceleration manifold
5)      Mixture under pressure dispersed (slung) through 20 nozzles into the flask
6)      Flask fills with pre-compaction around pattern plate.

Click HERE to see the JetSlinger™ in action!

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Hunter Foundry Machinery Corporation was founded in 1964 as Hunter Automated Machinery Corporation with the invention of the first gravity-filled automated matchplate molding machine. This established the company’s history of innovation and launched the foundry industry into a new industrial revolution. Pioneered by William “Al” Hunter in his garage, the original HMP-10 machine streamlined the laborious metal casting process by offering foundries unimagined new production capabilities, producing as many molds in one hour as most had been able to produce in an entire day. As industry demands grew Hunter responded with advanced solutions such as automated mold handling equipment and coresetters.

Now in its 50^th year, Hunter Foundry Machine Corporation’s inventions have earned nearly 150 patents around the world. With more than 1,800 molding machines and mold handling systems installed around the world, Hunter’s sales and service reach extends from its manufacturing sites in North America, South America and China through its offices in the U.S., Europe, Brazil, India and Shanghai to every corner of the globe. Sales and technical support, as well as the company’s $12 million parts inventory, serve to maintain each machine’s original production capability, as well as Hunter’s preeminence in the world market.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: 

HUNTER FOUNDRY MACHINERY CORPORATION
2222 Hammond Drive – Schaumburg, Illinois 60196-1094 – USA
Phone:  +1 847 397 5136
info@hunterfoundry.com
www.hunterfoundry.com
Attention:  Bill Hunter, CEO

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Hunter Introduces CESAR™ at Cast Expo 2013

New technology provides safer, cleaner work environment, as well as cost savings, for foundries by capturing and recycling unused pattern spray.

SCHAUMBURG, IL  — Hunter, the first name in automated matchplate molding machines and mold handling equipment, announced today the introduction of its new CESAR™ vacuum pattern spray recovery system. The CESAR system will be made available to the world market at the company’s Cast Expo 2013 Booth #473, where it will be mounted on Hunter’s new HLM-10 linear motion molding machine. CESAR will run throughout Cast Expo 2013, one of the foundry industry’s leading events, being held April 6-9^th at America’s Center in St. Louis, MO.

According to Hunter Foundry Machinery Corporation president and CEO Bill Hunter, who invented the system, “CESAR” stands for Contain, Evacuate, Separate And Recover. “This relates to the proper disposition of pattern spray typically used in sand molding operations, to act as a release agent between the mold and the pattern plate,” Hunter said. “We invented it in response to our customer’s needs, in recognition both of modern foundry and global environmental standards and to help improve their return-on-investment (ROI).

In operation, the closed-loop CESAR System from Hunter executes the following:

• Containment and collection of the unused sprayed materials
• Air-powered, vacuum-Evacuation removal of the spray fumes
• Cyclonic Separation of the usable liquid from the fumes, And
• Recovery, recycling and reuse of the fluid.

Most typical molding machines include a spray head positioned in the sand filling station and a spray evacuation device positioned near the rotary cradle or the spray head.  The spray is then dispersed onto the pattern plate as it enters the rotary cradle. But uncontained, excess spray can go onto other parts, as well as into the foundry atmosphere. This is why Hunter created its new CESAR System.

“In our new CESAR System the evacuation device – a slotted tube on the circumference of the rotary cradle – connects to an inline vacuum pump. Then, a cyclonic separator and water separator capture release agent vapor from the air collected in the tube,” Hunter stated, adding that CESAR provides a cleaner, safer working environment in the sand foundry while providing not only substantial savings to a foundry’s operation but also a positive environmental benefit to that foundry’s “green” initiative.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Hunter Foundry Machinery Corporation was founded in 1964 as Hunter Automated Machinery Corporation with the invention of the first gravity-filled automated matchplate molding machine. This established the company’s history of innovation and launched the foundry industry into a new industrial revolution. Pioneered by William “Al” Hunter in his garage, the original HMP-10 machine streamlined the laborious metal casting process by offering foundries unimagined new production capabilities, producing as many molds in one hour as most had been able to produce in an entire day. As industry demands grew Hunter responded with advanced solutions such as automated mold handling equipment and coresetters.

Now in its 50^th year, Hunter Foundry Machine Corporation’s inventions have earned nearly 150 patents around the world. With more than 1,800 molding machines and mold handling systems installed around the world, Hunter’s sales and service reach extends from its manufacturing sites in North America, South America and China through its offices in the U.S., Europe, Brazil, India and Shanghai to every corner of the globe. Sales and technical support, as well as the company’s $12 million parts inventory, serve to maintain each machine’s original production capability, as well as Hunter’s preeminence in the world market.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

HUNTER AUTOMATED MACHINERY CORPORATION
2222 Hammond Drive Schaumburg, IL 60196
Phone: (847) 397-5110
Fax: (847) 397-8254
Email: info@hunterfoundry.com
Attention:  Bill Hunter, CEO
Web: www.hunterfoundry.com
Connect with Hunter Foundry online:    

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