Pinning Foundry flasks

Discussion in 'Sand Casting' started by HT1, Oct 15, 2020.

  1. Billy Elmore

    Billy Elmore Silver

    We used aluminum. Some of them were huge. The patterns weighed 75 to 100 pounds. I cant remember for sure but think the biggest one we had was 36x36. The guy that made the 20" skillet used a 26x30 everyday. He had a rotolift machine to lift with but still managed to break three different people's arm.. since I have been here. No one wanted to work with him cause he worked so hard and so all the new guys got sent over to him...thus broken arms. I worked with him for a day to help get some orders filled once. I hated it.LOL
     
  2. Billy Elmore

    Billy Elmore Silver

    Not sure what we did with all of our old stuff. We had about ten squeeze machines and hundreds if not thousands of flask and jackets. We made our on jackets which held the mold in place while pouring. I think we sold them to Grady foundry in Bridgeport who went out of business the next year or so. I think that stuff is still there collecting dust.
     
  3. Jammer

    Jammer Silver Banner Member

    Here's some of your older stuff. They drag it out during the cornbread festival open house.
    IMG_0021.JPG IMG_0022.JPG
     
  4. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    Took me a while, but now I yhink I get it. That frypan is cast vertically with the handle up. Interesting loooong vertical drop of the iron.

    Denis
     
  5. Jammer

    Jammer Silver Banner Member

    Yes, that's the DISA system, vertical molds and automatic iron pouring into the mold in just a few seconds. Hundreds of skillets an hour... maybe thousands. ?
    IMG_0014.JPG IMG_0015.JPG IMG_0016.JPG
     
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  6. Tobho Mott

    Tobho Mott Gold Banner Member

    Neat. What are the doohickies next to the sprue cutters?

    Jeff
     
  7. rocco

    rocco Silver

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  8. HT1

    HT1 Gold Banner Member

  9. Rocketman

    Rocketman Silver Banner Member

    I have a collection of Hines flasks I've acquired over the years, a handful of random sizes. They are works of art. Likely rather spendy new.
    If I remember right, the panels are cast separately and then put into some sort of alignment jig, then a different metal is cast into place joining the pieces perfectly. I'll have to dig them out one of these days and post some pictures.
    The cam mechanism is very clever, too
     
  10. Billy Elmore

    Billy Elmore Silver

    Indeed it is... except for the absolutely appalling and despicable casting in the mock up pattern. That pattern definitely is just a mock up of our old small Disa tooling. We never ran vertical molds on our squeeze machines. They are trying to be tricky and combine two different processes.LOL We only ran horizontal aluminum matchplate patterns on those machines. The Tennessee logo is awesome and sales great. We melted all the Alabama skillets that no one wanted.
     
  11. Billy Elmore

    Billy Elmore Silver

    On that small machine FAST we can make over 600 molds an hour but average around 550. That is between 1100 to 1200 castings and hour off of that small machine but the old 2013 machines only average around 325 to 350 molds per hour. The bigger machine averages around 400 molds an hour but on the 8SK have seen it over 450... four on pattern...measly 1800 castings per hour. We have Disa come in a couple of times a year and help us set up jobs to maximize the machines ability. We far exceed what Disa says the machines are capable of. Our biggest issue is cleaning them and grinding them as fast as we can make them.LOL
     
  12. Billy Elmore

    Billy Elmore Silver

    Parting spray misters...some liked them and some would rather just use powder. Some jobs they were a neccessity.
     
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  13. Billy Elmore

    Billy Elmore Silver

    Absolutely a long way to drop the iron. The drop on most of our big machines is between 25 to 30 inches. Lots of velocity by the time it gets to the bottom! We had lots of pressure related and sand wash defects when we started the bigger machines but got it all smoothed out now. We average less than 10% scrap on everything and most being below 5%. We usually have 300 molds made before we see the castings come out of the shaker pan. If you run a small run of 500 molds you hope everything was right because they will be off the molding machine before the first casting gets out of the cleaning machine.LOL
     
  14. Jammer

    Jammer Silver Banner Member

    They told me that the Big Red A was from a material science class that came in on a field trip. I suggested they make a championship skillet each year, of course I said that when Ohio State won in 2014... GO Bucks!! They said NO!
     
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  15. Billy Elmore

    Billy Elmore Silver

    I don't know why they don't make a championship logo. I'm sure it has something to do with NCAA trademark pricing or something along those lines. We should...but honestly we may need to put more machines in soon to keep up with increases in our existing customers as it is and we are making fewer and fewer logo skillets each year.
     
  16. Jammer

    Jammer Silver Banner Member

    Yes, I think the NCAA copyright stuff is crazy and would probably double the price of the skillet.
     
  17. dennis

    dennis Silver

    Here are 18 flask guide pins. Made a year or two ago. 1018 steel - I think - and case-hardened.

    Plan is to make full 3/8 pins for the other side, so's I/they don't get our flasks mixed up, and then update the grip-n-socket castings.
     

    Attached Files:

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  18. Melterskelter

    Melterskelter Gold Banner Member

    Nice bit of work. Case hardened in a pack? Nitrided? Other?

    Denis
     
  19. dennis

    dennis Silver

    No, just heated and dipped in case-hardening compound, and reheated. I think I did so more than once in hopes of a better case...

    I need to get some sodium ferrocyanide. I'm almost out of my old container I got (many) years ago. I hope to do proper casing one day, but that needs a furnace.
     
  20. Fulmen

    Fulmen Silver

    Well, you kinda have one, don't you? ;)

    Case hardening is dead simple and dirt cheap once you get a good system. Well worth the effort if you can't/won't spring for better steel.
     

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