Methods for improved molds for the casting of metals and to prevent the complexity of the production from increasing are disclosed. Improved may be defined such that a mold consisting of the molding material has a surface of uniform hardness, even in the event of a change or variation in the quality of at least one of a plurality of properties of the molding material.

[Problem] To provide a method and device that automatically detects misalignment during flask mating in an automatic flask mating device for molding flasks for casting.

[Solution] In an automatic flask mating device, an external force applied to a cope with a cope molding flask M1 during flask mating is detected by means of a physical quantity detection sensor 60, quantified by a computation/storage/determination processing device 61, and then compared with a numerical value at a normal time for determination to thereby determine whether the flask mating has normally completed and detect flask mating misalignment. A force sensor is preferably used as the physical quantity detection sensor.

[Problem] To provide a method and device that automatically detects misalignment during flask mating in an automatic flask mating device for molding flasks for casting.

[Solution] In an automatic flask mating device, an external force applied to a cope with a cope molding flask M1 during flask mating is detected by means of a physical quantity detection sensor 60, quantified by a computation/storage/determination processing device 61, and then compared with a numerical value at a normal time for determination to thereby determine whether the flask mating has normally completed and detect flask mating misalignment. A force sensor is preferably used as the physical quantity detection sensor.

A flaskless molding machine includes: an upper sand tank storing the mold sand to be supplied to the upper molding space; a first lower sand tank storing the mold sand to be supplied to the lower molding space, and having a first communication port for discharging the stored mold sand; a second lower sand tank having a second communication port capable of communicating with the first communication port of the first lower sand tank, and storing the mold sand supplied from the first lower sand tank and to be supplied to the lower molding space; at least one first guide member extending in a vertical direction, and guiding the upper flask, the lower flask and the second lower sand tank in the vertical direction; and a second guide member extending in the vertical direction, and guiding the first lower sand tank in the vertical direction.

A flaskless molding machine includes: an upper flask; a lower flask; an upper sand tank; an upper plate attached to a lower end of the upper sand tank; a first lower sand tank; a second lower sand tank; a lower plate attached to an upper end of the second lower sand tank; a drive unit performing squeezing using the upper plate and the lower plate; an adjustment drive unit moving the first lower sand tank; a first detector detecting a height position of the first lower sand tank; a second detector detecting a height position of the second lower sand tank; and a control unit operating the drive unit and the adjustment drive unit so that the height positions of the first communication port and the second communication port coincide with each other, based on detection results of the first detector and the second detector.

A flaskless molding machine includes: an upper flask; a lower flask; a drive unit moving the lower flask; a lower filling frame; an upper plate; a lower plate; an upper flask oil-hydraulic cylinder coupled to the upper flask; a first oil-hydraulic circuit of the upper flask oil-hydraulic cylinder; a lower filling frame oil-hydraulic cylinder coupled to the lower filling frame; a second oil-hydraulic circuit of the lower filling frame oil-hydraulic cylinder; and drive units performing a squeeze process by moving the lower plate in an upward direction, wherein the first oil-hydraulic circuit includes a back pressure circuit applying a first back pressure serving as a resistance against an upward movement of the upper flask toward the upper plate, and the second oil-hydraulic circuit includes a back pressure circuit applying a second back pressure serving as a resistance against a downward movement of the lower filling frame toward the lower plate.

A kneaded sand property adjusting system including: a kneading device; a kneaded sand storage hopper that stores kneaded sand; a molding device that molds the sand conveyed from the sand storage hopper; a control device that controls water injection until a property of the sand meets a kneaded sand target property; and kneaded sand amount measuring instruments that measure the amount of sand stored in storage hopper, wherein the control device stores the batch number of each kneaded batch and the kneaded sand property measured at the time of kneading, calculates the batch number of the kneaded batch that corresponds to the molding sand being loaded into the molding device by the kneaded sand amount measuring instruments, associates the property of the molding sand with the property stored on by the batch number that was calculated, and corrects the target property on the basis of the values of the properties.

A kneaded sand property adjusting system including: a kneading device; a kneaded sand storage hopper that stores kneaded sand; a molding device that molds the sand conveyed from the sand storage hopper; a control device that controls water injection until a property of the sand meets a kneaded sand target property; and kneaded sand amount measuring instruments that measure the amount of sand stored in storage hopper, wherein the control device stores the batch number of each kneaded batch and the kneaded sand property measured at the time of kneading, calculates the batch number of the kneaded batch that corresponds to the molding sand being loaded into the molding device by the kneaded sand amount measuring instruments, associates the property of the molding sand with the property stored on by the batch number that was calculated, and corrects the target property on the basis of the values of the properties.

A core shooting machine (1) for producing cores by a process of shooting a core sand mixture (21) into a at least one cavity (19) in a core box (18) that is associated with the core shooting machine (1). The core shooting machine (1) comprises a source of compressed air (10) at an adjustable initial machine pressure (P.sub.0), the adjustable initial machine pressure (P.sub.0), being an adjustable process condition of the process, and a shooting head (13) fluidically coupled to the source of compressed air (10) by at least one conduit (12) that includes an electronically controlled shot valve (11), the shooting head (13) being configured for containing an amount of the core sand mixture (21), resulting in a filling degree of the shoot head (13), the filling degree being an adjustable process condition of the process, a computing device (50,60) associated with the core shooting machine (1), the computing device (50,60) being configured to perform a simulation of the process, the simulation using a model of the process, the computing device (50,60) being configured to be informed of several process conditions, including the adjustable process conditions.

A mixing and adjusting method for foundry sand includes calculating a total supplied water amount until a compactability (CB) value of mixed sand becomes larger than a lower limit value of a target CB value range, determining the total supplied water amount as a predetermined amount of water associated with an electric resistance of the foundry sand, and determining a ratio of a variation in the CB value corresponding to an additionally supplied water amount from the additionally supplied water amount during an additional water pouring and the CB value of the mixed sand.