Design and Development of Clamping and Ejection System for Mould used on Gravity Die Casting Machine

Abstract

Die casting industry is under erce competition around the world. Die casting Man- ufacturers have to compete not only with other die casting companies but also with plastics and composite materials processing industries. In order to survive and be- come competitive, manufacturers are forced to streamline and optimize their indi- vidual manufacturing processes. Gravity die casting process is labour intensive and expensive. Streamlining the process and automation helps in reducing the produc- tion cost and the process lead time. The key is identi cation of the areas that need automation and solutions to strategic as well operational issues need consideration. Manufacturing process also needs re nement to utilize the advantages of automation In this paper an attempt has been made to obtain optimal setting of the gravity die casting process parameters on present system to increase the yield of the process. To improve the process, hydraulic clamping and ejection systems have been designed for the mould to replace manual operations. The newly designed system needs minimal resources in term of space, cost and maintenance. The system not only reduces the time but improves quality due to repeatability in casting process. It also reduces reliance upon skilled labour. Design of various components of hydraulic Clamping and ejection systems namely C clamp, couple shaft, Ejector rod, clamping pin, guide support have been carried out. Finite element analysis of critical components has been carried out using ANSYS. The work also includes design of Guide-bar fixture. 3D components, assembly and in addition 2D manufacturing drawing of Couple shaft, C Clamp, Supportive Guide have been prepared using Creo Elements/ProE 5.0 and Auto Cad software.