The best of matchplate molding: Modern Casting asked molding experts to nominate foundries that have implemented the best technology and engineering to make their matchplate molding operation the model of efficiency and productivity. They considered several aspects, including physical layout, mold handling and versatility. The following three foundries were deemed the best overall.

Acme Foundry/Magic Circle, Inc. Coffeyville, Kansas 

In 2000, Acme Foundry was looking to improve the flexibility of its high production matchplate molding line, allowing for more capabilities while simultaneously keeping its costs low. "Our existing matchplate molding line had been installed in 1970, and we were looking for something that yielded a lot more options, such as variable mold height," said Mike Northup, Acme's foundry manager.

In a bold move, the gray iron foundry decided to replace its two existing matchplate machines, and add a third. Unfortunately, this investment meant that the plant had to be shut down for a period of three weeks. During that period, Acme installed two Roberts Sinto FBO II automatic matchplate molding systems (with a flask size of 16 x 20 in.) and a third FBO III (with a flask size of 20 x 26 in). "The third line was installed so that we could competitively make midsize high volume castings in the 5-35 lb range," Northup said.

In order to minimize the amount of time that the firm was shut down, Acme had every aspect of the installation carefully planned. "The installation was exceptional," Northup said. "Our plant engineer had to have everything carefully coordinated so that the plant would be shut down for the shortest amount of time possible. The new equipment arrived on the day it was to be installed."

The new line is set up so that both of the smaller-flask molding machines feed one mold handling system, which was designed by the manufacturer. As a result, the two molding machines are set in-line, with a computer indexing the movement of full mold cars to the pouring line and distributing empty cars to each machine as needed. During production, the mold handling line maintains up to 150 molds for pouring.

At the pouring station, the weights and jackets are automatically set with 60 molds available to pour at any one time. The cooling line feeds the molding machines and the molding machines feed the pouring line in a mold indexing system. The weights and jackets are picked up together from molds on the cooling line and transferred to unpoured molds by use of a hydraulic lift station. After pouring and the removal of the weights and jacket, the molds are pushed onto an 84-in. wide, 130-ft long belt that conveys them to the rotary drum shakeout.

The larger line has the same handling setup, except it is the only molding machine feeding 75 mold cars. The weights and jackets also are automatically set with 25 molds available to pour at any one time.

"The machines themselves are slightly slower than the old system, but the additional machine insures that we make about 30% more molds and about 40% more castings per hour than with the previous system," Northup said.

The manpower required to operate the lines was impacted, specifically by the new mold handling system. In the past, mold cars were manually moved on tracks and operators had to set weights and jackets at fixed stations using hydraulic set stations. They also had to manually dump the molds for shakeout. "The automated pouring line eliminated the need for a number of employees," Northup said. "We were able to decrease our man hours per ton by approximately 30% in this area of the operation."

Beyond increased production, the new system has lead to a number of improvements, including the flexibility that Acme desired. On the previous mold lines, the mold height was 6 x 6 in. or 12 in. overall. The new molding height is variable from 6-8 in. cope and drag, or 12-16 in. overall. The new machines also roll the pattern 90[degrees] for a downward blow as opposed to the horizontal blow on the previous equipment. "The downward blow facilitates better filling of deep pockets and tight spaces," Northup said. The machines have variable blow pressure and three different levels of squeeze pressure that can immediately be changed on the operators touch screen. The system saw additional improvements in mold hardness. "These machines have the capability to squeeze at 1200 psi," Northup said. "The old system's maximum was 750 psi. This feature has had a positive impact on casting finish and reduces the effects of mold wall movement." Because of this reduction in wall movement, the firm achieves a "closer-to-print nominal" casting.

This can lead to a reduced scrap rate. "Before the installation we were operating at about a 3.5% scrap rate," Northup said. "We were able to drop that a full percent." The new molding system also increased the cooling time (from 40 to 90 min.), which eliminated problems associated with early shakeout.

Acme is currently planning to add new equipment to production in the future. "We have plans to start pouring ductile iron," Northup said. "We know that additional equipment installation will be necessary to reach that goal."

Foundry Basics

Year Founded: 1905.

Metals Cost: Gray iron.

Employees: 325

Total Molds/Day: 4000.

Casting Weights: 1-300 lb.

Markets: Mobile hydraulics, agriculture, valves and pumps.

Green Sand

Molding Lines: Three call automatic matchplate units two with a flask size of 20 x 24 in. and one with a flask size of 14 x 19 in.)

Littlestown Foundry, Inc. Littlestown, Pennsylvania 

Littlestown Foundry's strategy to compete with foreign competition is simple--invest in itself, specifically by installing two new automatic matchplate molding lines. "We were losing business to offshore competitors and we felt we needed something to give us an edge on the competition," said Larry Smeltzer, vice president of operations at Littlestown Foundry.

That edge appeared in the form of two Disa GFD Match 130 molding machines (with a 20 x 24 in. flask size) that feature auto coresetting and electromagnetic pouring. One machine was installed in March 2001, along with a new melting operation, and the second in July 2002. "These were the first machines of their type for aluminum casting," Smeltzer said. "We worked with Disa, field testing the equipment so that it would not only suit us, but future foundries." The firm also has one Roberts Sinto FBM molding line with a 14 x 19 in. flask size, which was installed in 1996.

The new matchplate installation entailed removing older matchplate molding machines and putting in a fully integrated production system. While start up and full implementation took over a year, Littlestown was able to streamline its production line, eliminating mold handling delays.

The new molding lines have substantially increased the speed of production. "Mold production has increased by 35% because the machines are faster and the repeatability is excellent," Smeltzer said. "We have been able to virtually eliminate mold shift, due to the positive flask alignment and mold stripping design, along with crush and sand inclusions that are normally associated with shift."

When the new molding lines blow molds, the cope and drag squeeze heads are positioned in the flask to a predetermined dimension. The entire flask and squeeze assembly rotates 90[degrees] for the blow slots of the cope and drag to directly align to the blow chamber. The blow and squeeze takes place (with a pressure of 5-7 Bar) and the assembly again rotates 90[degrees] for pattern stripping.

One aspect of the new molding lines that has been critical in reducing manpower and in casting consistency was the addition of the automatic coresetter, which also speeds up the molding process by 30 molds per hour. "We insisted on it early on, and it's as good as any coresetter that we've ever seen," Smeltzer said. The coresetter enables the operator to insert multiple small cores into a mask on the coresetter arm.

At the appropriate time in the cycle, it moves into the machine and places the cores in the mold. Typical core setting times is about 5-8 sec of cycle delay per mold, compared to 12-15 sec when set manually. "We have jobs with as many as 18 complicated cores, and we can maintain 120 molds per hour. We also have four to seven job changes per shift and we maintain production of more than 90% per shift."

The molding system is designed so that after the molds are produced, they are pushed from the machine to a mold handler, which automatically places weights and jackets on the mold. The molds then advance automatically to an electromagnetic pump pouring system.

After approximately 25 min of cooling time, the molds are dumped onto a shakeout line that discharges the castings onto a conveyor and then into a water quench conveyor, where they are cooled and any loose sand is removed. From there, the castings are automatically conveyed to a second floor area where the gates and risers are removed and the castings are either placed into overhead bins for grinding or dispensed to the trim die operation. "The trim die reduces or, in some cases, eliminates the need for grinding on a number of our castings by eliminating the parting lines," Smeltzer said.

While Littlestown was revamping its molding lines, it also took the opportunity to install a stack melter and two new holding furnaces have been installed with permanent degassing and filtering.

The new molding system has not only helped to improve the foundry's bottom line, but has helped to keep the foundry clean of excess sand. "We do not have the sand spillage that we used to, and because the system is completely contained, there is less wear on the equipment," Smeltzer said. "The entire system has reduced mechanical movement, so it requires less maintenance and replacement parts, thus reducing operating costs."

The requirement for manpower also has been reduced. Each molding line is a one-man operation, with only eight people involved in the physical casting operation (previously 15), including supervision and material handling.

The new matchplate molding lines also are responsible for a reduction in scrap rates. Prior to the installation, Littlestown typically had a scrap range of approximately 4-5%. "The new molding lines have allowed us to reduce scrap through eliminating mold shift," Smeltzer said.

While Littlestown isn't planning on any immediate future additions to its molding lines, the firm does hope to make additions in other areas. "We are planning on adding a new heat treating system and we're looking into the possibility of robotic grinding," Smeltzer said. "From a molding standpoint, I think we're set for several years."

Foundry Basics

Year Founded: 1916.

Metals Cast: Aluminum.

Employees: 70.

Casting Weights: 1 ounce to 20 lb.

Markets: Industrial, transportation.

Green Sand

Molding Lines: Three (all automatic matchplate units, two with a flask size of 20 x 24 in. and one with a flask size of 14 x 19 in.)

Donsco Inc. Belleville Div. Belleville, Pennsylvania 

Donsco-Belleville's molding investment three years ago was part of a deliberate strategy to eliminate waste from an iron casting operation still trying to gain its footing as a job shop. Prior to 1993 (when the 75,000 sq ft plant was acquired by Donsco), it had been a captive casting operation for agricultural equipment manufacturer New Holland.

Donsco faced two challenges in its growing pains from captive to commercial job shop. First, the previously captive facility had seen only a limited amount of jobs and second, the workforce was essentially starting anew with zero foundry experience. Save for a few, all of the previous employees had been reassigned to other New Holland factories.

Upon his arrival at Donsco in 1996, Michael Day (now vice president of operations) focused on streamlining the plant for optimum productivity and reducing its double-digit scrap rates that the foundry faced in what was, practically speaking, a startup phase. "Eliminating unnecessary human variability was a big part of the solution," said Chuck Cutshall, plant manager, who is one of the few veterans remaining from the New Holland days.

Three years later, during the 1999 Christmas shutdown, Donsco pulled the trigger on its biggest capital investment since the acquisition. A new HMP-20 (20 x 24-in. flask size) automatic molding machine from Hunter Automated Machinery Corp. replaced two older machines of the same flask size. In addition, a HLH-20 linear mold handling system (featuring double-row pouring/cooling lines) from the same manufacturer replaced an outdated compressed air handling system (a maintenance nightmare, said Cutshall). An electronic monorail was also installed for more efficient iron transport.

The handling system installation consists of a self-storing mold conveyor that transports molds to pouring as demand requires. After the mold is pushed from the machine's shuttle conveyor onto the pouring line, the weight, and then the jacket, are set automatically and the mold is indexed to the pouring zone. After pouring, the molds cool under weight/ jacket until the end of the pouring line, where they are lowered to the bottom level for cooling. Eventually, the molds are lifted and the weight and jacket are stripped, and upon completion of cooling, are indexed onto the shakeout system.

The system allows numerous pouring positions and the ability to pour with two ladles. Cooling times also can be varied, if desired.

While the older two lines require molds to be jacketed by hand and delivered to pouring via a pallet line, Cutshall said that the new line's "molds are not touched by human hands after the mold closes."

Cutshall remembered the first day the new line was run. "We put a job that ran 50 molds/hr the day before on the new machine and we all watched as it knocked out nearly 100 molds in the first hour. The finish and appearance of the castings was immediately noticeable."

Although individual jobs can vary from 75-150 molds/hr, the machine continues to have a target of 800 molds/shift (100/hr). This level matches the combined targets of the existing two machines.

Beyond the speed, Cutshall cited the squeeze pressure as a key attribute of the new machine, which has resulted in closer tolerances and sharper parting lines. In addition to reducing scrap and improving efficiencies, he said the investment allowed the plant to extend its sales offering. "Because we gained 300 psi in total squeeze pressures (to 1300) and increased moldability, we could now better compete for the customers who required a good surface finish."

Surface finish has grown in importance as of late, he said. Many customers had grown accustomed to the surface finish they had received via vertically parted molding (when previous volume demands made more economic sense), even when the casting can't be seen in the final application. "Now, even on the most challenging of jobs, we're getting a finish at shakeout that looks like it was finish-ground," Cutshall said.

The handling system also has made a significant impact. Mold handling, said Cutshall, is often the most inefficient area in any green sand operation. "Automated handling is far more efficient than having guys haul molds around with the lift, and there's a sizeable scrap reduction benefit. Cooling can also be set up to be very precise--everything is more constant." He added that the hydraulic-style system's smooth operation greatly reduces the potential for defects as a result of handling issues.

Another major improvement was found in the cleaning room. "We saw great increases in grinding efficiencies," said Cutshall. "Because of the mold hardness, we don't see the finning or thick parting lines that tend to be typical of matchplate molding. We can take a new pattern with a well-designed parting line being run on the older machines, put it on the new one, and see a big difference."

The scrap reduction program put into place in the late 1990s has been a great success, and Cutshall said the investment in more modern molding equipment played no small role. While internal scrap rates improved to 3.3% six months after the investment, scrap has continued to fall each year to the current level of 2.2%.

Cutshall cited the investment's role in this improvement--mainly in eliminating manual handling--but placed the greatest credit on the shoulders of his workforce, which now has an average of about five years of experience in green sand molding. Much attention is placed on venting practices to rid the mold of gas, as well as careful preparation with initial trial runs to ensure that scrap is low right off the bat. A checkbook for machine maintenance is closely followed, as are the 20 mold checks that employees closely abide by. "You can get the job done with older equipment, but people make it work," he said. "If you don't have the right system and people in place, it wouldn't matter if you had the greatest machine in the world."

When asked what's most unique about the plant's approach to molding, he cited the importance placed on the total sand system. "We pride ourselves in sand conditions that are very good for green sand molding. In some foundries, the sand being used is actually detrimental to the performance or molding machines. Things like moisture and clay need to be controlled for the machines to be productive. The requirements of sand and molding are all known, and our people work diligently to adhere to them. Attention to detail is what makes us successful."

As the economy improves, he expects continued investment in Belleville's older molding lines, including mold handling. "Donsco is going to move forward with modernization to remain in the best competitive position," he said. "We may be in Amish country, but we do kick butt."

Foundry Basics

Year Founded: 1972

Metals Cast: Gray & ductile iron

Employees: 125 (including office).

Total Molds/Shift: 1600 (800 on new machine).

Casting Weights: 5-80 lb.

Markets: Agriculture, truck, automotive and traditional job shop.

Green Sand Molding Lines: Three (all 20 x 24 automatic matchplate units).