Design and Development of Hook of Pasta Making Machine

Abstract

In a pasta making machine, hooks are used to support aluminium sticks and perform a sliding motion in horizontal direction. Sticks with made from lightweight anodized aluminium, are used to dry pasta placed on it. Large numbers of hook are used in a pasta making machine. The reasons for some of the typical defects namely shrinkage porosity and distortion, which take place in the investment casting of S.S. 304 hook are analyzed. CAD mod- els of hook and cluster tree have been prepared using Pro/E software and meshing of the cluster tree has been carried out using HyperMesh software. Commercially available casting simulation software ProCAST has been used to study the solidi ca- tion of hook. The temperature distributions of the solidi cation process have been obtained and the positions of shrinkage have been identi ed. An improved cluster design has been proposed which reduces number of defects. Experimental work has also been carried out to eliminate distortion defect by changing wax and viscosity of ceramic slurry used during the process. Cluster tree design has been modi ed again to increase the casting yield and checked for defect. Simulated results are in good agreement with actual casting of hook. Fatigue life of the hook has been found using Ansys workbench and same has been theoretically validated.