Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 6

Metalcasting operations have dozens of strategies and objectives, but all of them have one principle in common: produce the highest quality products at the lowest possible cost. In order to achieve this objective a huge emphasis is put on operators’ skills and system performance to contain cost over-runs. This leads to highly skilled operators relying too much on instinct, and less on incremental design improvements, to gain all the benefits that they can muster from the most basic equipment. Vibratory shakeout machines have been standard equipment for sand-casting foundries. These machines receive solidified castings fresh from the molds, and through the vibratory process separate the castings from the molding sand. It’s been this way for decades. To get the most out of a shakeout machine it takes more than skill to operate efficiently and achieve high throughput without damaging the castings. Vibratory Design Innovation The current generation of vibratory shakeout machinery has many new design factors for foundries to consider when purchasing any vibratory application, such as, shakeouts, conveyors, feeders, screeners, and sand attrition mills. The best new systems feature a dynamically balanced and isolated design that eliminates the vibration transmission to the foundation. The inherent benefits of a balanced Two-Mass design include: vibration isolation, lower horsepower requirements, and easy installation. This unique design requires no special foundation or pit from which to operate, and furthermore these factors reduce maintenance requirements for the foundry by eliminating crank arms, bearings, or rubber compression drives. A dynamically balanced and isolated design also prolongs performance life for the vibratory equipment, compared to the outdated “brute force” designs MARK DIDION Vice President, Systems Integration CONVEYOR DYNAMICS CORPORATION ARTICLE TAKEAWAYS: 1. Even the most basic equipment and processes can utilize the latest designs and controls for optimum utilization 2. Variable amplitude allows the operator to precisely control the vibratory action 3. The latest dynamically balance and isolated designs provide many maintenance and operation benefits over the outdated brute force designs SYSTEMS INTEGRATION CONVEYOR DYNAMICS VIBRATORYPROCESSINGMACHINERY 8 TODAY’S VIBRATORY SHAKEOUT SYSTEMS: DESIGNS & ADVANCEMENTS