Die casting is a process that has been around for decades. It is a flexible process for producing metal parts by injecting molten metal under pressure into a reusable steel mold or mold. Die casting molds can be designed to produce high-precision, repeatable, complex-shaped parts. Die-cast products are the main products mass-produced in the metalworking industry and are used in a variety of consumer, commercial, and industrial products. A wide range of products, from alloy toys to automotive engine parts, are manufactured using this process. Depending on the size and quantity requirements of the final product, the automation of die casting operations is essential for a successful manufacturing process.
The automated operation of hot chamber die casting machines relies heavily on advanced control systems and mechanical design to achieve an efficient and accurate production process. We can see several key points:
- Control system
- Mechanical
- Operating modes
- Material handling
- Single cycle operation
- Automatic and consecutive operation
Control system:
most high-performance hot chamber die casting machine adopts the Siemens PLC control system, this kind of system supports intelligent human-machine interface configuration, which makes it possible to open and close the mold, lubrication system setup, and other operations can be quickly and accurately complete on the screen. This highly automated control not only improves operational efficiency but also ensures the stability and repeatability of production.
Mechanical:
The design of the hot chamber die casting machine includes automatic sprayers and other durable components that provide a faster and more stable operating environment for production. In addition, the machine’s hydraulic pumps and electric motors are used in conjunction with each other, which is an important factor in its high level of automation.
Operating modes:
While some machines may offer a choice of manual, semi-automatic, and fully automatic operating modes, modern hot chamber die casting machines usually default to or primarily use fully automatic mode, which helps to minimize human error and increase productivity.
Material handling:
During hot chamber die casting, the molten metal is automatically supplied to the mold through a “gooseneck” tube, a process controlled by the rise and fall of a piston, which ensures uniform filling of the metal and pressure maintenance.
Single cycle operation
- Turn the option switch SA5 to “SEMIAUTO”.
- If you need the detect action, select “detect open” in the dialog of the man-machine interface.
- If you need the pushing casting and spray coating action, in the dialog of man-machine interface separately select “pushing casting open， and spray coating open”, if don’t need the pushing casting action, you should keep the pushing casting cylinder on the condition of pushed back.
- Close the back guard gate SQ16, and keep the machine in the condition of the home position, open the front guard gate, and press the “die close” buttons SB1、SB2 with your two hands.
- After closing the front and back guard gates SQ10, and SQ12, the machine will operate in single-cycle mode.
- If a cyclic action, only after the action of opening the door and then closing the door that the next cyclic action proceeds.
Automatic and consecutive operation
- The operation of automatic continuous running must have detect devices, if not it is unsafe.
- Close the front and back guard gates, after setting the machine in the condition of the home position, transfer the option switch SA5 to the position of “AUTO”;
- The regulation of the other transfer switches and time is the same as those in the single-cycle state;
- Close the front and back guard gate, and make the travel switches SQ10、SQ12、SQ16 act;
- Press the “die close” buttons SB1、SB2 with your two hands, then the machine automatically does the action continuously. For the selection of core inserting and pulling, in the human-machine interface – select “ON” of core pulling and inserting in action set 2/2, and then select the procedure of “Core in before dying closing and core out after die opening” or Core in after dying closing and core out before die opening”, the machine will operate according to the set procedure.
The automatic operation of the hot chamber die-casting machine is mainly due to its advanced control system and precise mechanical design. The application of these technologies enables the hot chamber die casting machine to realize high efficiency and high precision production while reducing the difficulty of operation and production costs.
