Touchscreen for the Automated Master Caster

[Tazza]

Essentially like the bandsaw i have at home. The only difference is on one side it has a valve so you can set the feed rate with the needle valve and leave it set for the feed but you can lift it up quickly due to the internal one way valve.

[jmorris]

Exactly, still a "damper" on "fast" action (only one way on your saw).

Post a video with out it all things being the same.

[Tazza]

I'll do my best to do a video with and without the gas strut on the weekend, hopefully i will get time.

[Tazza]

Ok, i got time to run it and take a video.

http://vid903.photobucket.com/albums...122_151916.mp4

The first part is without the gas strut, the second part you can see me attaching it and keep running it.

I really don't see it doing anything different with it on there. After i fiddled with the adjustments it seems to spring more than it did before. I think the restrictors on their own will be just fine, it just takes time to adjust then to get it right. I actually found the springyness (that may be a word i just made up) helped to knock the projectiles and some sprues off.

I am running about 50PSI, i tried putting it higher but found it made no difference in the sprue cutting, it was still slow but cut through. It looks like it is struggling, it is just taking time to build up pressure to give enough force to cut the sprue off.

[HATCH]

I wouldn't change a thing.
Take your sprue plate and polish the funnel part.
Use steel wool.
Then use bull plate or equivalent on it.

It takes time for pressure to build up in the cylinder when you use the restrictors.
I think you could almost get away with just lubing the top of the sprue plate.

[HATCH]

Plumbed up all the air lines. Using exhaust valves on the movement cylinder.

Those exhaust air valves are loud.
Found out that my lead pour requires at least 65 psi to operate. The movement operates as low as 30psi.
Before my lead pour was before the pressure regulator. Now it is after.
My air valve are only good for about 100psi as they will bleed is you put more pressure on them

I did run it for about a hr today.
Mostly tweaking. It will run as slow as taz's but it needs tappers that slow.
I can run the return stroke really slow so it gently closes.

The advantages of having the restrictors before the air valve is that it doesn't restrict anything when you are trying to do the opposite.
The down restrictor isn't effecting anything when you are going up and vice versa.

I might put a T in the line so I can put the regulator after the lead pour valve.
This way I can reduce the pressure on the movement cylinder and tappers even more.

[Tazza]

I did polish the sprue plate, i think it needs more attention to smoothen it some more. It was one of the ones i made and still has a few machining marks.

I never thought about the valves being noisy, but it does make sense. There is no muffling of the air as it escapes.

Are you happy with the movement it has now? After the tappers are setup and running, i think it would be a pretty awesome setup. The sprues and projectiles will land in the correct places, less stress on the machine due to impacts.

I'm really quite happy with how mine moves, it needs tweaking to get just right. It needs tappers for reliability but it's working up to that.

[jmorris]

I just connect hoses to the exhaust ports (they are generally threaded too) and run them into a covered trash can.

[Tazza]

I found this worked very well on an air die grinder.

You can get exhaust mufflers for next to nothing on ebay too. I can't see how they can make any money selling things so cheap.

[HATCH]

I got the little air stone looking mufflers. Its still loud.. LOL

[Tazza]

Those are the ones I was thinking about., im surprised its still really loud. Jmorris's idea of a hose may help. But it may also slow things down as the air escapes slower.

[jmorris]

This is the back side of my pneumatic sizer.

The center QD is air in, the top and bottom are exaust. Just stick extra hoses on them.

I used brake line to go from the solenoid to the ram so the hose ID is much larger and doesnt slow it down at all, even with 50' hoses on reels.

[Tazza]

Impressive.

I like the QD fittings, saves you having dedicated air lines hooked up to it, and saves space when it's not being used, better that than having a heap of hose laying around.

Brake line is no problem when it does not need to flex, that is where plastic comes in.

[jmorris]

The brake line was what I had and it is ridged enough that I didn't have to make a mount for the solienoid.

[Tazza]

With such short pieces, i'm not surprised it holds the solenoid tightly in place.

It's always handy having parts there that you can use to throw something together with. Any time you throw something away that you think you may never use it, is the time you find out soon after that you have a job for it.

I was lucky that my dad has a mate with an engineering shop that has just about anything. If i need a cylinder or solenoid, he is the fist place to stop off at.

[HATCH]

I am mounting my air manifold to the control panel with self tapping screws. I will screw the air valves down too. The air valve for the tappers will be at the tappers

[Tazza]

Mine are mounted to the rear of my MC, just below the main air cylinder. Ideally i shouldn't have drilled holes in it, but it is heavy cast iron, i can't see it doing any harm.

The only issue is the plastic lines, one runs a little close to the pour spout and i have had a little lead land on it. Not enough to cause an issue, but i may need to fiddle with the fittings to try and get the bend away from the molten lead.

[jmorris]

The air switch for mine has an ID of .067" and the length of the line (ID of around .076") was 42" to the cylinder and about 8" to the switch itself (can always cut it to make it shorter harder to make it longer again). With pneumatics it is less of a factor than with liquids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih32UPvuuks

The line size compaired to the cylinder volume is much more of a factor.