"Spin Caster repair help" Topic

I have looking for a reasonably priced used spin casting machine for a while to keep our production up to meet the increased demand and have not had much luck. That is, until I happened to stop by storage locker business that had a bunch of unclaimed stuff for sale. And lo and behold, there sat a rather beat-up spin casting machine! A crisp new Franklin changed hands and another couple of Jackson's for two young strong backs and I had our additional machine. Took it to the shop hooked it up and nothing but the sound of air leaking from the machine.

To make a long story short, does anybody have any suggestions or recommendations as to who or what type of business I should contact in the Denver area to get said diamond in the rough up and running? Any suggestions?

If you do know of anyone or can help PM me or email to Mail@historicalminiatures.com

Thanks,
Dave
Stone Mountain Miniatures

Hello Dave,
Strangely enough having a problem with the air system on mine at the moment…………still in progress.
Need a good pneumatics engineer, lot of air tool systems around so should be fellas around just a matter of finding one that likes a challenge lol
Otherwise( and here I go into teaching granny to suck eggs mode……….)check hoses are in their valves properly ( easy for the air hoses to slip out of the 'clamping ring' on the valve when machine moved) and there maybe an air release valve somewhere that enables the air to be drained from the whole casting machine. It often sticks out a bit so might have got damaged when moved or just in open position.
Good luck with it.
L

My suggestion would be to contact someone in the hydraulics industry or forklift mechanic.
Another suggestion would be to contact a heavy duty truck mechanic. All big rigs have an air brake system. Air brakes are somewhat complicated.

The ONLY thing is air escaping? Does it spin?

Yes, it does spin. However, you need the air cylinder to push the bottom pressure plate to lock the mold and top plate in place.

Thanks for the suggestions I will explore them and see if I can get this resolved. I am also going to take several pictures of the unit to show to the shops so they will understand hopefully understand the problem.

Yeah, I know how the air works! Was just making sure everything else was working as well.

Another possibility is a small company servicing food machinery. With so many different machines in that industry to service they usually can fix just about anything and have all the gear to do it.

headzombie,

I figured you probably know that, but it gave me an opening, in case someone else reading the thread who might have a suggestion wasn't sure how air pressure affected the casting process.

bsrlee,

I would never have thought of that.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I now have some new options I hadn't considered before.

Dave

Hope you get it fixed Dave. Any movement on the 15 mm AWI figures I believe you mentioned a while back about coming back onto market? If I'm not off base with my memory.

If it's just an air leak, you can easily perform some DIY checks first. With the power off, hook up the air and feel around the pipe joints. The sound will change when you interrupt the air flow. if the connection is just loose you can fix it with some teflon tape from an auto parts store. Disassemble the joint, wrap the threads ~twice around, and tighten it up. Keep checking until the leaks are gone.

@Early morning writer

Will be available in December along with a new and improved web site and shopping cart.

Dave,

Thanks for the information – and glad to here about the upgrade on the web site. Will check out the AWI once up and available.

EMW

I would go with leonadler's advice. Find a paint shop that has or may know a pneumatic repairman/outfit. Sounds like a valve or connection problem.