Abstract: A chill assembly for chilling a molten material during formation of a part is disclosed. The chill assembly includes an upper platform and a mold platform for receiving a mold package to be filled with the molten material to form the part. The upper platform has a first platen moveable in a vertical direction relative to the molding platform. A plurality of chills are moveably supported by the first platen for quenching the molten material. Each of the chills are moveable between a pre-chill position and a post-chill position. An alignment sub-assembly engages the chills and aligns the chills in the pre-chill position. The alignment sub-assembly re-aligns the chills after the chills have quenched the molten material and moved to the post-chill position. The alignment sub-assembly is capable of precisely aligning and re-aligning the chills after each successive quenching of the molten material.

Abstract: A chill assembly for chilling a molten material during formation of a part is disclosed. The chill assembly includes an upper platform and a mold platform for receiving a mold package to be filled with the molten material to form the part. The upper platform has a first platen moveable in a vertical direction relative to the molding platform. A plurality of chills are moveably supported by the first platen for quenching the molten material. Each of the chills are moveable between a pre-chill position and a post-chill position. An alignment sub-assembly engages the chills and aligns the chills in the pre-chill position. The alignment sub-assembly re-aligns the chills after the chills have quenched the molten material and moved to the post-chill position. The alignment sub-assembly is capable of precisely aligning and re-aligning the chills after each successive quenching of the molten material.

Abstract: The present invention relates to casting and more particularly to an improved apparatus and method of aluminum casting. The casting system 10 includes a furnace 12, a pump 14 and a mold 16. A semi-permanent mold cope 30 is mounted to the top of the mold 16 to quickly cool the adjacent portion of the casting 20. The semi-permanent mold cope 30 is movable with respect to the mold so that it can be moved between an open and closed position. The mold 16 can be brought to the semi-permanent mold cope 30 when the semi-permanent mold cope 30 is open and the semi-permanent mold cope 30 can then be closed onto the casting 20. The molten metal is then pumped into the mold 16 with the semi-permanent mold cope 30 in place. A laser 34 monitors the rate of mold fill by monitoring the fill rate of the riser 28.

Abstract: A blow tube unit includes a retainer insert assembly with a restrictor and an injector blow tip. The restrictor includes restricting means to prevent the communication of a thermosetting fluent material from a reservoir to a sand core mold in the absence of blow cycle pressure. Constructed from a single block of metal, the restrictor is detachably secured to a lower portion of the blow tube unit in order to allow for removal and cleaning. The injector blow tip is made from an elastomeric material and is detachably secured to a lower portion of the restrictor.