Casting

Aim of the experiment:

❖ Objectives:
➢ To understand sand mould casting process.
➢ To study its applications and important fundamentals.

Machines and tools used:

❖ CASTING FURNACE:
➢ In metal casting, the required heat to be exerted to the metal so as to reach
its melting point. A furnace is used to melt the metals in initial stages.
➢ Foundries design the melting furnace in a particular way so that it consumes
less heat and fuel as possible in order to melt the metal.

❖ MOLDING BOARD: Used as the surface to prepare mould on it. It supports the
flasks and the pattern, while the mould is being made.

❖ MOLDING SAND: Sand is the principle material used in foundry. The principle
ingredients of molding sands are:
➢ Sand: Natural molding sand is either available in river beds are dug from pits.
➢ Clay: Clay imparts the necessary bonding strength to the molding sand.
➢ Silicon: It is mixed with core oil and other oddities in the sand. Also used as
parting sand.
➢ Water and Molasses: Used as wetting agents.

❖ MOLDING FLASK: It is a base, made of wood or metal, open at both ends. The
sand is rammed in after placing the pattern to produce a mould it is made of 2 parts;
cope is the top half of the flask, having guides for the aligning paints to enter. Drag is
the bottom half of the flask having aligning pins.

❖ PATTERN: A pattern is the replica of the desired coasting, which when packed in a
suitable material produces a cavity called mould. This cavity when filled with molten
metals, produces their desired coasting of the solidification.
❖ CORE: It is inserted into the mold cavity prior to pouring. The molten metal flows
and solidifies around the core to form the casting's internal surfaces.

❖ SPRUCE PIN: It is tapered wooden pin used to make a hole in the cope sand
through which the molten metal is poured into the mould.

❖ RISER PIN: It is tapered wooden pin used to make a hole in the cope sand over the
mould cavity for the molten metal to rise and feed the casting to compassable the
shrinkage that take place during solidification

❖ SHOVEL: It is used for mixing and tempering molding sand and for transferring the
sand in to the flask. It is made of steel blade with a wooden handle.

❖ RAMMER: It is of different shapes and sizes, are used for packing sand in spaces,
pockets and corners in the early stages of ramming. Some rammers have flat surface
and is used for setting up the sand towards the end of molding.

❖ STRIKE-OFF BAR: It is a piece of metal or wood with straight edge. It is used

remove the excess sand from the mould after ramming to provide a level surface.

❖ TROWEL: It is used to smoothen the surface of the mould. It may also be used for
reproducing the damaged portion of the mould. A trowel is made in many different
styles and sizes for different work.

❖ CRUCIBLES: It is used as flask to carry molten metal from furnace to mould.

❖ OTHER TOOLS USED:

➢ Spike or draw pin: It is used to lift the pattern from the sand mould.
➢ Lifters: A lifter is a finishing tool used for repairing the mould and
finishing the mould sand.
➢ Vent rod/pins: It is used to make vents in the mold.
➢ Hammers and Mallets
➢ Ladles and long tongs: It is used in moving molten metal from melting
furnace to mold by holding the flask.
➢ Bench Vice, Hand hacksaw and filers.
Experimental procedure:
❖ For the start we wear safety gear (gloves, shoes, etc.).
❖ Preparing the moulding sand
➢ We mix all the principle components of it i.e. sand, clay, silicon and water with
molasses.
❖ Preparing the mould
➢ After that place the pattern on the molding board, with its flat side on the board.
Then place the drag over the board.
➢ Start filling the drag with moulding sand and pack the molding sand around the
pattern and into the corners of the flask, with fingers.
➢ Place some more sand in the flask and pack the pattern with a rammer using wedge
type and flat type rammers.
➢ Strike-off the excess sand from the top surface of the drag with the strike-off bar
and turn the drag upside down to blow-off the loose sand particles and smoothen
the upper surface.
➢ Place the cope on to the drag in position. Locate riser pin on the highest point of the
pattern.
➢ Place the sprue pin at an appropriate distance from the the riser pin.
➢ Sprinkle the upper surface with parting sand and similarly fill and finish the moulding
sand set up as done above.
➢ Make holes with the vent rod and remove the sprue and riser pins by carefully
drawing them out. Funnel shaped hole is made at the top of the sprue hole, called
the pouring cup.
➢ Lift the cope and place it aside on its edge then insert the draw pin into the pattern.
Wet the edges around the pattern. Loosen the pattern by rapping. Then draw the
pattern straight up.
➢ Adjust and repair the mold by adding bits of sand, if necessary. Then cut out the
runner in taper shape to reduce velocity and increase pressure of molten metal.
➢ Blow off any loose sand particles in the mold. Then close the mold by replacing the
cope and placing weights on it.
❖ Pouring and Finishing
➢ The molten metal is poured from crucible though sprue hole till it fills up to the riser
and pouring cup.
➢ Then it is left for cooling down then the metal piece is extracted out.
➢ Then the work piece is cut and polished using hacksaw, bench-vice and filers and our
final piece is ready.
Home Activity:
❖ After looking at various things and identifying various objects made by different
casting process, I came up with the list below:
➢ Heavy machinery like cylinder heads, valves, engine blocks, pump housings,
machine tool bases, pulleys, engine manifolds.
➢ Small equipment and tools like bearings, gears, bushings, brush holders,
brackets, lever arms, electrical contact parts, hardware, machinery parts.
➢ Parts and tools used for fitting purposes like nuts, landing gear parts, flanges,
clamps, fittings, pumps, pipe plugs.
❖ Processes that might involve in making of pulley are:
➢ Preparing the moulding sand
➢ Preparing the mould
▪ After that placing the pattern and drag over board.
▪ Filling and packing of moulding sad in drag.
▪ Strike-off the excess sand and smoothen the upper surface.
▪ Placing drag and locating riser pin.
▪ Placing spruce and riser pins.
▪ Sprinkling of parting sand and similarly fill and finish the moulding sand set
up as done above.
▪ Make holes with the vent rod and remove the sprue and riser pins. Funnel
shaped hole is made at the top of the sprue hole, called the pouring cup.
▪ Lift the cope and place it aside insert the draw pin into the pattern. Loosen
the pattern by rapping. Then draw the pattern straight up.
▪ Adjusting and repairing of mould. Shaping runner.
▪ Blow off any loose sand particles in the mold. Then close the mold by
replacing the cope and placing weights on it.
➢ Pouring and Finishing
▪ The molten metal is poured from crucible though sprue hole till it fills up to the riser
and pouring cup.
▪ Then it is left for cooling down then the metal piece is extracted out.
▪ Then the work piece is cut and polished using hacksaw, bench-vice and filers and
our final piece is ready.
Limitations:
❖ Limitations on mechanical properties like low strength, high porosity compared to a
machined part.
❖ It includes a high requirement of manual labor in sand casting.
❖ Poor dimensional accuracy and surface finish for some processes due to shrinking
and flaws while colling down.
❖ Safety hazards as there are some harmful gases that can be emitted from melt also
the high temperature of melt can hurt the workers.
❖ Environmental problems such as harmful fumes causing ill effects and high energy
consumption to make the melt.

Casting in Civil Engineering:

❖ It is used to produce semifinished products and machinery directly from liquid steel
❖ It also results in improved quality through more consistent chemical composition
and better surfaces on the finished product.
❖ The physical properties are somewhat similar to the natural sand & chemical analysis
there is no harmful chemical in it which gives no hazardous to use in concrete
❖ Heavy equipment like machine tool beds, ships' propellers, etc. can be cast easily in
the required size, rather than fabricating by joining several small pieces.

Conclusion
In this workshop we have learnt that, casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid
material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape,
and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected
or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting is most often used for making
complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other
methods.
Also we have learnt, sand moulded casting is a metal casting process characterized by
using sand as the mould material. Moulds made of sand are relatively cheap, and sufficiently
refractory. In addition to the sand, clay, water and organic resin are mixed to develop the
strength and plasticity and make the aggregate suitable for moulding. The contained in flask
for the moulding purposes.

Thank You