MODULE 6

Mechanization of Foundry
• Mechanization of Foundry focus on the production of
castings in large numbers at low cost using
machineries.
• Material handling and Pollution control are the two
primary areas to be considered in mechanization.
• Machine has to be designed and built which could
perform foundry operations.
• Integrate machines and various operations with
material handling systems.
 Areas for Foundry Mechanization
Preparation of moulding sand.
Moulding and core making.
Melting and pouring.
Shakeout and cleaning.
Material handling.
Pollution control
 Advantages of mechanization
•The production rate is highly increased for the same floor area of
• the factory.
•Better defect free castings with good surface finish
• Dimensional accuracy are obtained
•The number of unskilled and semiskilled labour can be
minimized.
•Better clean, hygienic and healthy working conditions are
established in the foundry floor.
• Cycle time to obtain a casting is reduced.
•The cost of production per kg of casting is reduced.
• Manual material handling is reduced or totally eliminated.
 Limitations of mechanization
• Initial investment is high, and foundries having low
rate of production becomes not economical, if it is
fully mechanized.

• The amount of flexibility to produce castings of

different shapes and size is reduced.

• Skilled labour is a requirement and unemployment of

unskilled and semiskilled labour becomes a problem.
Preparation of moulding sand

Moulding mixture preparation – flow chart

Schematic diagram of moulding sand preparation unit
 Material handling
• Encompasses a diverse range of tools, vehicles, storage units,
appliances and accessories involved in transporting, storing,
controlling and protecting products at any stage of
manufacturing, distribution consumption or disposal.
• The four main categories of material handling equipment
include:
• Storage
• Engineered systems
• Industrial trucks
• Bulk material handling
 1. Storage and handling equipment
• Storage equipment is usually limited to non-automated
examples, which are grouped in with engineered
systems.
• Storage equipment is used to hold or buffer materials
during downtimes, or times when they are not being
transported.
• The majority of storage equipment refers to pallets,
shelves or racks onto which materials may be stacked in
an orderly manner to await transportation or
consumption .
 2. Engineered systems
• Engineered systems cover a variety of units that work
cohesively to enable storage and transportation.
• They are often automated.
• A good example of an engineered system is an Automated
Storage and Retrieval System, often abbreviated AS/RS.
• It is a large automated organizational structure involving
racks, aisles and shelves accessible by a “shuttle” system of
retrieval.
• Other types of engineered systems include:
• Conveyor systems
• Robotic delivery systems
• Automatic guided vehicles (AGV)
 3. Industrial Trucks
• Industrial trucks refer to the different kinds of transportation
items and vehicles used to move materials and products in
materials handling.
• These transportation devices can include small hand-operated
trucks, pallet-jacks, and various kinds of forklifts.
• These trucks have a variety of characteristics to make them
suitable for different operations.
• Some trucks have forks, as in a forklift, or a flat surface with
which to lift items, while some trucks require a separate piece
of equipment for loading.
Fork Lift
• Trucks can also be manual or powered lift and operation can
be walk or ride, requiring a user to manually push them or to
ride along on the truck.
• A stack truck can be used to stack items, while a non-stack
truck is typically used for transportation and not for loading.
• There are many types of industrial trucks:
• Hand trucks
• Pallet jacks
• Pallet trucks
• Walkie stackers
• Platform trucks
• Order picker
PALLET TRUCK
PALLET
WALKIE STACKER
 4. Bulk Material Handling Equipment
• Bulk material handling refers to the storing,
transportation and control of materials in loose bulk
form.
• Generally, these pieces of equipment deal with the items
in loose form, such as conveyor belts or elevators
designed to move large quantities of material, or in
packaged form, through the use of drums and hoppers.
• Conveyor belts
• Stackers
• Reclaimers
• Bucket elevators
• Hoppers
CONVEYORS
HOPPERS
RECLAIMERS
 Selection of Material Handling
Equipment
• Selection of material handling equipment is an
important decision as it affects both the cost and
efficiency of handling system.

• The following factors are to be taken into account

while selecting the material handling equipment.
1. Properties of the Material
• Whether the material is solid, liquid or gas, and in what size,
shape and weight it is to be moved, are important decisions
and can be lead to a preliminary elimination from the range of
available equipment under review.
• Similarly, if the material is fragile, corrosive or toxic this will
imply that certain handling method and containers will be
preferable to others.
 2. Layout and Characteristic of the
building
• It is the consideration of availability of space for handling.
• Low-level ceiling many preclude the use of hoist or cranes,
and the presence of supporting columns in awkward places
can limit the size of material handling equipment.
• If the building is multi-storeyed, chutes or ramp for industrial
trucks may be used.
• Layout itself will indicate the type of production operation
(continuous, intermittent, fixed position or group) and
indicate some items of equipment that will be more suitable
than others.
• Floor capacity also helps in selecting the best material
handling equipment.
 3. Production Flow
• If the flow is fairly constant between two fixed position that
are not likely to be changed, fixed equipments such as
conveyors or chutes can be successfully used.
• If, on the other hand, the flow is not constant and the
direction changes occasionally from one point to another,
moving equipments such as trucks would be preferable.
 4. Cost Considerations
• Several cost elements need to be taken into
consideration when comparisons are made between
various items of equipment that are all capable of
handling the same load.
• Initial investment and operating and maintenance cost
are the major costs.
• By calculating and comparing the total cost of each items
of equipment under consideration, a more rational
decision can be reached on the most appropriate choice.
 5. Nature of Operations
• Depends on the nature of operations like whether
handling is temporary or permanent, whether the
flow is continuous or intermittent and material, flow
pattern-horizontal or vertical.
 6. Engineering Factors
• Engineering factors such as door, ceiling dimensions,
floor space, floor conditions and structural strengths
are also taken in consideration in the selection of
equipment.
 7. Equipment reliability
• Reliability of the equipment and supplier reputation
and the after sale services plays an important role in
selecting the equipment.
Handling of molten metal in foundry
• Molten metal is a serious hazard in melting pouring
applications of metal casting.
• Workers who execute tasks with or near the molten metal are
highly prone to risks, such as coming in contact with metal
splashes.
• To minimise or eliminate the risk associated this process
molten metal handling system should be mechanized.
• Various types of lifting equipment are used in the molten
metal industries to lift and move a variety of loads.
• One of the most common pieces of lifting equipment is the
overhead crane.
• Ladles, tilting type furnace,molten metal pumps are the other
common types of equipments used in foundry.
Tilting Ladle
 Plant layout for foundries
• Plant layout refers to the arrangement of physical
facilities such as machines, equipment, tools, furniture etc.
• It is to obtain quickest flow of material at the lowest cost and
with the least amount of handling in processing the product.
• The primary objective of plant layout is to maximize
production at minimum cost.
• The layout should be designed in such a way that it is flexible
to change according to new processes and production
techniques.
• The layout should be able to satisfy the needs of all those who
are associated with the production system such as workers,
supervisors, managers etc.
 Steps in planning a foundry layout
• Analyze the product to be manufactured for annual tonnage,
type of casting to be produced and maximum piece weight.
• Operation sheets must be developed for each manufactured
product.
• Preparation of layout : Planning chart which contain flow
process sheet, standard timing, machine balance, machine
selection, manpower requirements, material handling
equipment requirements etc.
• The requirements of machine, operator, materials and service
area must be considered.
• Storage of raw materials, in-process storage and finished
goods storage should be considered.
• Clearances around various pieces of machinery and between
departments should be determined.
• Office requirements, personnel facilities and services must be
considered.
• Sufficient provisions for the addition of new product lines or
for increased demand for the existing product must be
considered.
• Survey plant services such as compressor room, pump house,
waste disposal, equipment maintenance, cooling and
ventilation must be considered.
• The location of all plant and equipment, work stations,
facilities, storage space etc. should be clearly indicated on this
plan.
 Application of CAD/CAM in foundry
• The application of CAD/CAM technology is relevant to cast
product designers, foundry engineers and pattern makers.

• The important developments are:

• Product design
• Casting design
• Simulation
• Rapid tooling
• Intelligent advisory systems
• Internet-based collaboration
 Product design and analysis
• Engineers in nearly every automobile company today use a
range of software tools for design and analysis.
• The first step is Computer-Aided Design or CAD, in which a
solid geometric model of the component is created on a
computer.
• Important advancements in CAD systems include parametric
and features-based modeling.
• Parametric modeling enables linking the part shape to its
dimensions, so that the shape is automatically updated by
specifying new dimensions.
• Features-based modeling allows a user to create a part in
terms of holes, bosses, ribs, etc, which is a more intuitive
approach compared to earlier solid modeling systems.
 Casting design and Simulation
• Casting design involves converting the part design to the
tooling design: orientation in the mould, parting line,
application of draft and allowances, feeding and gating
systems, core boxes and other elements.
• Simulation includes mould filling and casting solidification,
useful for optimizing the design of gating and feeding systems
respectively.
• Casting model is the main input for simulation.
• Since casting design essentially involves a series of geometric
transformations of the part model, the 3D CAD systems
described earlier can be used for this purpose.
 Rapid Tooling
• Rapid prototyping and rapid tooling technologies make it
possible to produce the tooling for a casting can be
significantly reduced.
• A 3D CAD model is necessary.
• Rapid prototyping systems automatically decompose the CAD
model into a series of layers, and build each layer on top of
the previous one to get the physical model – no part-specific
tooling is required.
• Rapid tooling technologies involve converting a master model
(obtained from rapid prototyping process) into a negative
replica, by pouring thermosetting plastic (epoxy or
polyurethane) or spraying low melting point metal around the
master.
• The negative replica can then be used to produce a number of
positive replicas (in plastic or wax) of the original master.
 Intelligent Advisory Systems

• A new breed of ‘intelligent’ CAD/CAM programs based on

geometric reasoning and knowledge engineering have started
emerging in the last 3 years.
• Geometric reasoning mainly involve understanding the part
model and recognizing relevant features.
• Knowledge engineering involves storing and linking domain
knowledge with a computer program
 Internet-Based Engineering

• Using Internet, a drawing, quotation, order or confirmation

can be sent through electronic networks, instantly .
• Internet is also a convenient source of virtually unlimited
information about technologies, products and companies