Preparing the Master Caster for Automation

[Tazza]

Not a bad deal at all.

One thing you will notice when automated is that the cart will move as it is on wheels. You will need to get locking castors or something to stop it rolling. Mine has two wheels and the other two sit just on the floor. Without the wheels being up against a hard surface, it moves around the shop (slowly)

[HATCH]

Mine is on a cart but its doesn't move. It might be the fact I have 500 lbs of lead on the bottom shelf. ,

[Tazza]

That may help, just a smidge

My bench is quite light vs that, all the weight is up high so naturally the tipping forces are much worse.

[jmorris]

Huh, what was $36?! Amazing value and obviously in the right hands.

The tool pictured, to center and steady hand-tapping, looks effective. Not sure if it gets somehow sandwiched between a vise and the object but I'll look into it.

$46. All the block does is make sure the tap is perpendicular to the part when it starts to cut. I hold mine with one hand and turn the tap with the other. After you get the lead threads cut, back the tap out, remove the block and finish tapping.

[chloe123]

Placed online order at McMaster from W Winn 5/2012 "Air Assisted Master Caster" parts listing

only removal was of his first line item (hand operated lever control valve...)

2 plus years and the prices are almost exact


I didn't want to do extend this post with record keeping oriented updates. See the previous page for the updates

[Tazza]

Getting closer

[HATCH]

Yep he is a little closer

[Tazza]

Sure does look neat. I bet the practice you get at work kelps with that

[HATCH]

To be honest its been three or four years since I had to build a control panel for work.
I run the panel shop now so I don't have to build panels.
Practice makes perfect. This panel is the 6th one that I have built and the 3rd basic one (without PID)

I have two cables I use now for the wires. One for the inputs (gray one) and one for the outputs (blue one).
One thing that I did different on this one was add a pushbutton for manual operation of the movement air cylinder and I also added a toggle switch for large boolit (to operate a second set of timers and allow for larger lead drops)

[Tazza]

Colour coding is a good idea.

I like the idea of a pushbutton to operate it. I want to install switch to hold the mold down.

Its nice to have mions to build your panels. You get to design and not wire it up.

[HATCH]

I don't design.... I buy parts and plan production. We have engineers to design the panels we build.
I am trying to standardize on color coding for the MC automation panels I build.
I also number the terminal blocks.
Wires run from the PLC to a terminal at the top. Then wires from the door accessories run to that terminal block.
I tried to make it color for color but there are some wire colors that are different for the door and different for the sub panel.

[HATCH]

Closer even still

[HATCH]

Waiting on air valves, potentiometer, and a 250k resistor.
I am getting the hang of building these now.

Additions to this panel.
Heavy bullet timer mod and manual movement button.

[Tazza]

There is also a limit of how many colours of wire you can get hold of too. I never have enough on hand, so i number my terminals and wire up and go from there. If i'm the only one to be working on it, there is no problem. If someone else needs to work on something that i have wired that way, they may have "fun" down the track and using a meter to find what is run where.

Looking nice.

[HATCH]

I have enough colors if I use 16ga tffn wire as that's what we use at work. But that's overkill.
I looked in the storeroom and had a 8 conductor cable (gray one) and the 4 conductor (blue).
I had 10 conductor but someone used it before I could grab it.

[Tazza]

How inconsiderate of them, they should have left you some

I think the most i have is about 8? i think it was mainly used for trailer wiring.

[ProfGAB101]

Not trying to nit pick - Wyman used brass pipe nipples as spacers, any you have used Aluminum.

Those mount on the top of the pot/valve lever pivot plate and both metals are super heat conduits to your Aluminum cylinder mount...

I'd have been cheap an just used plain black pipe for the spacers, ( or better yet some 304SS rems from work ) to not sink any heat away from my pot and keep the heat away from the air cylinder so the seals last longer. Steel is not a great heat conductor, Stainless tends be even better at isolating heat.

OTOH - making a shelf that goes across the pot from heavy expanded metal makes a great preheating area for ingots waiting to be feed into the pot. My ingot supply is in an unheated area of the garage so when I cast in winter those ingots are below freezing.

[chloe123]

I hadn't thought about conduction.

Before I purchased all the McMaster referenced parts (including the brass spacers), I bought the aluminum pipe and some aluminum sheet, locally.

I don't have proper tools. Or better said, I wasn't sure how to perform some of the tasks, such as cutting brass. Initially, I used a hacksaw to cut the aluminum over the length I needed, and then used a metal file to remove material and smooth it.

Actually, I ended up using a small pipe cutter on the second set of aluminum posts you noticed. Seemed like a good tool for the job.

Professor, I will shorten the brass tubing. And I appreciate the comment regarding the importance/significance of the original design. I just need a little more time, that's all.

[Tazza]

Not sure the heat conducting to the ram will be a huge issue, as when the air is let out of the ram, it cools slightly. That part of the pot does not reach the full melting temperature of the lead either.

I actually cover my pot with a small piece of sheet metal to keep the heat in a little. I put ingots on top for pre-heating, it doesn't d a lot, but it is all wasted heat, so may as well use it.

[HATCH]

I used a bunch of nuts to do my standoff.