How To Use The Jewelry Casting Equipment?-Part 2

How To Use The Jewelry Casting Equipment?

1. Automatic Vacuum Pressure Casting Machine

After the plaster mold is made, you can start casting. CDOCAST’s vacuum pressure casting machine uses a Siemens touch screen and PLC control system.

The entire melting and casting process is automated. You only need to set the working parameters, and the machine will automatically start melting, vacuuming, filling protective gas, pressurizing, casting, etc. It is easy to operate.

The following is the process of machine operation:

1. Connect all pipes of the machine including vacuum pipes, power cables, water cooling pipes, etc.
2. Turn on the power and set various casting parameters. (The supplier will set the parameters before the machine leaves the factory, but the products made are different, so you need to test and adjust the parameters after receiving the machine)
3. Click the button on the operation interface to check whether the functions of the machine are working properly.
4. Start heating, preheat the crucible to 700 degrees, add metal materials for melting, and push the casting cylinder below the melting chamber. The casting cylinder will automatically lock with the melting chamber (You can also start melting without preheating the crucible)
5. Press the automatic button, the machine will automatically start vacuuming according to the set parameters until the set value is reached. After the vacuum reaches, “vacuum reaches delay turn on the protective gas” time start, after that, the protective gas will be automatically turned on, and adjust the protective gas flow rate to 4-6. When the set pressure value is reached, the machine automatically stops filling the protective gas. After the temperature reaches the set value, the “temperature reaches delay exhaust time” will be started. After the time is reached, the machine will automatically exhaust and the casting cylinder will automatically drop.
6. After making sure that the material is completely melted, pull out the casting cylinder, put the burned plaster mold into the casting chamber, and push it to the bottom of the melting chamber again.
7. Press the filling button, vacuuming will start automatically, and stirring will start after the temperature reaches the set value. After the stirring is completed, the stopper rod will be lifted to start filling the metal liquid. At the same time, the “filling delay pressurization time” will be turned on, and pressurization will start after the time is reached.
8. When the filling time and pressurization time are reached, the filling and pressurization are automatically turned off. After the vacuum is completed, the machine starts to exhaust. After completion, the casting cylinder drops. At this time, the casting cylinder can be pulled out and the flask can be clamped out.
9. The clamped flask needs to be placed aside to cool for a while and then put into cold water to remove the plaster. (If it is put into water immediately, the casting may break due to rapid cooling)

2. Plaster Cleaning Machine

After removing the plaster, most of the plaster in the flask has fallen off, but a small amount of plaster is still attached to the casting. So the casting has to be cleaned with a plaster cleaning machine.

The cleaning machine consists of a water pump, a cleaning chamber, a nozzle and other main components.

When using it, first connect the power supply and the water inlet pipe, and start the water pump. Put your hands into the gloves, pick up the casting and put it under the nozzle. Step on the foot switch at the bottom of the machine, and the foot switch can control the water flow from the nozzle on the top of the machine. The design of the nozzle makes the outflowing water have a certain force, which can clean the attached plaster.

3. Magnetic Polishing Machine

The magnetic polishing machine is suitable for polishing gold, silver, copper, and other non-magnetic materials. It uses the driving magnetic field to conduct the stainless steel needle grinding material to produce fast rotation, high rotation and floating flow, vibration, reversing and rolling, turning upward, sliding across the surface of the workpiece, rubbing on the inner hole, inner and outer teeth and surface, concave and convex surface, to achieve high efficiency in removing burrs, removing oxide film, removing lines, polishing, cleaning parts, etc.

The operation steps are as follows:

1. Put the polishing needle in the polishing disc, pour in an equal amount of polishing needle, water and an appropriate amount of polishing liquid.
2. Put the items to be polished and cover the lid.
3. Turn on the power, press set to set the forward time, press set again to set the reverse time, and finally press set to set the total polishing time.
4. Press the start/stop button and the machine starts working. If you need to pause, press the start/stop button as well.
5. After polishing is completed, turn off the power and take out the items.

4. Jewelry Grinding Machine

Jewelry grinding machines can be used for grinding and mold making of gold and silver jewelry, copper, and hardware jewelry. Simply put, it is to grind the uneven surface to make it smooth. The machine is equipped with a funnel to recover the powder produced by grinding. After grinding, the jewelry is sent for sandblasting. The jewelry grinding machine can be sealed or open-top. It is recommended to choose a sealed type for small precious metal jewelry and an open-top type for large bracelets and bronze statues. After grinding, directly use a brush to clean and recover the powder.

Grinding machines are generally used in conjunction with sandblasting machines. After the surface is polished and smoothed, sandblasting can be performed to achieve the desired effect.

5. Sandblasting Machine

The sandblasting machine is a kind of equipment commonly used for surface treatment and cleaning. Its main working principle is to use compressed air to spray abrasives (such as sand, glass beads, etc.) at high speed onto the surface of the treated object, thereby removing dirt, and oxide layer or changing its surface texture.

The application areas of the sandblasting machine include but are not limited to:

1. Surface cleaning and dirt removal: used to clean metal surfaces, concrete surfaces, etc., to remove attached dirt and oxide layer.
2. Surface roughening treatment: used to increase the roughness of the material surface for subsequent coating or bonding process.
3. Removal of old coating: used to remove old coating, paint film or spraying.
4. Surface decoration: used to create decorative surface effects, such as creating frosted effects on glass, metal or plastic.

In jewelry casting, the commonly used abrasive is sand, generally oil-bright sand, ancient sand, water sand, diamond sand, etc. According to the required effect, choose the appropriate sand.

The operation method is as follows:

1. Plug in the air pipe and turn on the light switch. Insert the air pipe of the air compressor into the sandblasting machine.
2. Add sand and water into the machine in a ratio of 1:1, covering the motor stirring blade
3. Open the pressure valve, adjust the air pressure, and step on the foot pedal to start sandblasting. During the sandblasting process, the wiper will work to wipe off the water droplets on the mirror surface, and the sand will flow into the sand collecting bucket.

6. Vibration Polishing Machine

It uses vibration force and abrasives to process the surface of the workpiece, mainly for removing burrs, improving surface finish, and improving surface accuracy. This machine usually uses abrasive particles of specific shapes and sizes to achieve the processing effect through the movement force generated by vibration and the friction between the surfaces.

The following abrasives are available: steel balls, aluminum oxide, high-frequency porcelain, high-aluminum porcelain, resin, and corundum. Choose the abrasive according to the polishing effect you want to achieve and your budget.

Vibration polishing machines are relatively suitable for polishing three-dimensional materials that are not easily deformed. They are commonly used for polishing gold and silver bars, bronze statues, rings, etc. If it is a flat design, vibration polishing may cause deformation. Then you can consider using eddy current polishing.

When using, add 1/3 of the abrasive, add an appropriate amount of polishing liquid, cover the abrasive, then start the machine and put the product in for polishing.

7. Dual Barrel Polishing Machine

Dual barrel polishing machines are available in single-barrel, double-barrel, and triple-barrel models with the capacity of 9L, 18L, and 36L. Each barrel can be used for different processing effects, such as grinding, rough polishing, mirror polishing, etc., and there are also many types of materials that can be used.

Grinding requires grinding fluid and glue stone, or grinding paste plus walnut shells. Polishing uses polishing fluid plus glue stone, or polishing paste plus walnut shells. Depending on the material, we also divide this polishing method into dry polishing and wet polishing. Choose different types of materials according to the jewelry to be processed and the processing effect you want to achieve.

The operations are as follows:

1. Pour the polishing material into the barrel to 1/2 or 2/3, pour in the polishing paste, and stir and mix the polishing paste with the material. If you grab the material by hand, some of the material will stick to your hand, and this dry and wet state is enough.
   If you are using polishing fluid, you need to connect circulating water. The switch on the machine is connected to the water pump below, and the faucet is turned on to automatically pump circulating water.
   Turn on the power, set the working time and running speed, press the start button, and the machine starts working. Press the red button to stop the machine.

The above are the equipment and operation methods needed for jewelry casting. If you want to know more information, please feel free to contact us!

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