The new Palmer UMM can be set up with one, two, four, and six stations molding stations, with capacities from 12x12 4/4 to 60x60 36/36.
Palmer Manufacturing & Supply Inc. recently introduced a Universal Molding Machine (UMM) that it explained will accept either existing green sand or no-bake tooling. It was developed to respond to the typical jobbing foundry operation, where production levels are variable and quantities range from a few pieces to thousands of molds. Also, in such operations the mold tooling is often a combination of new and old materials; cope/drag, matchplate, green sand, no-bake, or shell process designs; and metal, wood, or plastic materials.
The Palmer UMM was designed to be a high-production molding system that can make no-bake molds using any tooling available, with minimal set-up, minimal tooling modifications, and unskilled laborers.
“The ability to accept either green sand or no-bake tooling is an innovation that allows any modern jobbing metalcasting foundry to be flexible with their production (program requirements) and more efficient,” according to company president Jack Palmer.
The UMM tooling frames are designed to accept cope/drag no-bake boxes where they are mounted back-to-back and run according to the matchplate style, as well as any type or size of green sand tooling. Green sand matchplates require only a simple 2x wooden box mounted to each side, and then fastened to the tooling frame. No-bake cope and drag boxes are simply mounted to the tooling frame as-is.
Production rates up to 20 molds per hour with the two-station UMM are easily achieved with one operator, according to the system developer. Up to 65 molds per hour with the six-station UMM are achievable with two to three operators – all without a rollover. Because the pattern is inverted automatically and drawn onto a precision scissors lift, a rollover isn't necessary and any amount of daylight is available at no additional expense.
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