Cleaning and Inspection The cleaning of castings generally refers to all the operations involved in the removal of adhering

sand, the gating system, and fins, wires, chaplets, or other metal not a part of the casting. Cleaning operations may also include a certain amount of metal finishing or machining to obtain the required casting dimensions, the salvage of castings having minor defects, and the inspection of the finished castings. CLEANING OPERATIONS AND EQUIPMENT The series of operations performed in the cleaning department may be classified as follows: Removal of gates and risers, rough cleaning Surface cleaning, exterior and interior of casting Trimming, the removal of fins, wires and protuberances at gate and riser locations Finishing, final surface cleaning, giving the casting its outward appearance Inspection Sometimes heat-treatments are involved which necessitate cleaning the castings after the heat-treatment. This might be done between steps 3 and 4 above. Often steps 1 to 5 are carried on simultaneously. Some of these, such as gate removal, may occur during shakeout operations. Removal of Gates and Risers The sprue, runners, and risers are firmly attached to the solidified casting. If the casting alloy is brittle, the gating system may be broken off by impact when the castings are dumped and vibrated in shakeout and knockout devices. Flogging Flogging with a hammer or sledge is a positive means of gate removal by impact. A man may be stationed at the shakeout to flog the sprue and risers as the sand falls away from the casting. When the molds are set out on floors and dumped by hand, men with hammers knock off the gates and toss the castings and gates into

separate boxes for transfer to the cleaning room.

To sprue the castings is to remove gates in this way. Gray- and white-iron castings are especially amenable to gate removal by this method. An inherent danger of breaking off the gates is that the break may extend into the casting proper. This condition may be remedied by notching the ingate ahead of the casting.

The protuberance remaining on the casting can then be ground flush with the casting wall. Flogging may be applied advantageously to steel castings as long as the gates are of a size that can be knocked off by a man using about a 12-lb maul. One author estimates that can be knocked off the maximum size of gate which may be flogged from carbon-steel castings

is one with 4.4 sq in, cross-sectional area connection to the casting. The same author studies the impact in foot-pounds necessary to break steel knock-off risers and developed the graph shown in Fig.24.1.It is important to note that the diameter referred to in Fig.24.1. is the neckeddown diameter of a Washburn riser, and not the enlarged diameter.

Notching or necking down, is a common means of making flogging easier. Even certain brasses and bronzes, relatively ductile as cast, may have riser flogged off if Washburn risers are used. Mechanical Cutoff Gates may be removed by band sawing, power sawing, abrasive cutoff wheels, or with sprue cutter.

A rapid method of removing a number of small castings from a central runner is provided by the sprue cutter. Shears off the casting at the ingate. Ductile metal castings such as steel, brass, copper, and aluminum are conveniently handled by the sprue cutter, provided the gate and casting size is not too large to shear.

Gate of 1/8 to 1/2 in. in thickness may be readily sheared on the sprue cutter. In some cases, fins may be removed and gates cut off simultaneously by using a punch press fitted with a die for performing these operations. Die castings are often treated in this way. Abrasive cutoff wheels may be used for gate removal.

Band sawing can be used for removing gates from many castings, both ferrous and nonferrous. Its most extensive use is on nonferrous castings and involves equipment. Band sawing may be done by cutting or friction sawing. Actual sawing involves cutting chip formation, and removal at speeds up to about 3500 fpm.