Product category:
Metals processing plant and equipment
News Release from: Rautomead International | Subject: Quick Die Change technology - NF continuous cast
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 02 August 2007
NF continuous casting dies changed in
under 2h
On the latest non-ferrous horizontal continuous casting machines, the casting dies can now be changed without having to cool the furnace, reducing changeover time from over 26h to under 2h.
Rautomead, of Dundee, Scotland, has introduced a patented Quick Die Change technology to its existing RT range of horizontal continuous casting machines These are used to cast non-ferrous (NF) metals such as brass and bronze semi-finished bar and hollow bar
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 3 Dec 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Until now, users of RT machines had to allow up to 28h to change dies.
Typically, users had to cool the furnace to under 400 deg C before changing the casting dies.
Cooling avoided erosion of the graphite high temperature components when exposed to atmosphere.
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Cooling time was about 16h, followed by 2h to change the dies and a further 8h to reheat.
In conventional brass rod casting, the casting dies would last typically for three weeks, enabling a die change procedure to be carried out each third weekend.
* Quick Die Change technology - the patented Rautomead Quick Die Change (QDC) enables the casting dies to be changed without cooling the furnace.
The technique dramatically reduces die changeover time from around 26h to 1h.
Rautomead said that its QDC technology is best used in conjunction with a separate melting furnace, so that a fresh batch of molten metal is ready to pour as soon as the new casting die has been fitted.
* Jobbing advantage - using QDC, the RT 650 and RT 850 machines become highly efficient units for jobbing applications.
They will now apply to relatively short production runs of different product sizes.
Rautomead expects that this greatly enhanced production efficiency will open up a series of new applications and new markets for their highly proven horizontal continuous casting machines.
* About the T series machines - the robust design of these machines has enabled them to give excellent service to customers over many years - indeed many units supplied in the 1980s remain in daily production.
Rautomead believes that the introduction of QDC will provide RT machine users with a worthwhile and significant enhancement.
Today's RT models are the RT 650 and RT 850.
They can be charged with molten metal from a separate melting furnace, or can be used as integrated melting and casting machines.
The machines can be configured to produce one, two or four strands according to product size.
Maximum size is 150mm and minimum is 15mm.
Output is influenced by product profile and the alloy in production, but 400kg/h and 600kg/h is typical from the RT 650 and RT 850 machines respectively, when fed with molten metal.
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