Abstract: A method is described for uphill casting in sand molds with high-resin casting cores or especially casting cores containing binders, and with directed solidification of metallic castings that have at least one cavity. In particular, these are prototypes of engine blocks or cylinder heads, for example for internal combustion engines that are provided with a cavity through which coolant water flows. To provide for low-turbulence flow of the liquid molten metal during the deaeration of the casting mold, the casting mold is provided with at least one feeder head that is connected through a casting system to an infeed funnel, and the molten metal it contains is displaced by gravity through the casting system into the casting mold, with the cavity in the molten metal being subjected after the filling to reduced pressure that is greater than the pressure of the core gases formed in the core. This eliminates the hindrance to filling the mold from air pockets in the mold.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a method for directly producing a lost mold by machining a sand mold made with curable binders. The invention is intended in particular to decrease tool wear and to increase dimensional accuracy and exactness in the reproduction of the mold, in that a mold blank (1) to be machined is constructed by means of a pattern set (4) with the use of a variable or fixed molding box (2) and includes in its volume the desired contours of the casting mold and a machining allowance for the milling of the mold material. After filling of the molding box (2) with curable foundry mold materials, curing, and removal from the mold, the mold blank (1) is transformed into the casting mold by removal of the machining allowance by high-speed machining, milling or 3-D machining of freeform surfaces. The invention concerns lost molds for metal castings and the fabrication of casting prototypes and odd parts in the range of small-and medium-sized articles and production runs.