July 26, 2006 -- Vulcan Engineering Co., Helena, AL, is reporting details of three orders for equipment from its line of lost-foam casting equipment.. Among these, British metalcaster Weir Warman recently purchased a Lost Foam Pro-500 bead pre-expander from Vulcan Engineering.
In addition to lost-foam casting equipment, Vulcan supplies automation systems to the investment-casting sector. It has received a new order for a TruGlu wax assembly machine from Stryker Orthopaedics, Mahwah, NJ. It will be in operation later this year.
This machine will assemble wax patterns onto trees automatically, and reportedly was chosen for its flexibility and ease of programming, and its ability to use existing trees and parts without modification. The robot program uses laser technology to measure the trees, and automatically adjusts the process to match the variation of the tree, so that parts are placed in the proper position.
The machine also is outfitted with a vision system that locates the wax parts on the infeed conveyor and feeds this information to the robot, which reorients the gripper to pick up the part. This feature eliminates the need for part-dependant fixtures and setup time for each part. Quick-change tooling is standard, so job changeover is complete in less than one minute, according to Vulcan. The parts are dipped in sticky wax and placed on the tree. Once assembly is complete, the robot seals the joints with a torch.
Finally, Vulcan reports that PSA Peugeot Citron, Charleville, France, has ordered a 30-flask/hour lost-foam casting line -- the third such system purchased by PSA Peugeot Citron.