Any foundry that has origins dating back to the 1940´s and is still operating is a rare occurrence in South African foundry industry. NI-Foundry, formerly known as Guestro Casting and Machining, is one of a few. NI-Foundry belongs to Naledi Inhlanganiso (Pty) Ltd and is a manufacturing group established in 2013 focusing its operations on iron and steel manufacturing for the rail, mining, energy and automotive market sectors.
The main operations are located in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng Province, South Africa. NI-Foundry Casting and Machining is a foundry casting 150 to 200 tons of ferrous and non-ferrous metals daily. Continuous improvement and process optimisation is also indispensable for NI-Foundry in order to continue its successful company history. This is why they ordered two IFM 7 multi-function furnaces with TWIN-POWER systems by ABP Induction Systems GmbH headquartered in Dortmund in 2014.
This order also included two charging machines type FC 12 T by CYRUS GmbH Schwingtechnik, which serve to feed the furnace semi-automatically.
The mobile chargers are fed by means of the existing charging bay crane with a charge make-up of black scrap or casting returns. The black scrap has a bulk density of 1.1 t/m³. The charging machine comes with a capacity of 11m³, which corresponds to a load-carrying capacity of 12 t. The machinery supplied by CYRUS also stands out with its high user friendliness. The central control aisle allows both systems to be controlled by just one operator. This ensures maximum utilization. NI-Foundry not only attaches importance to user friendliness but also to functional reliability. Here CYRUS has further optimized important safety-critical details with its latest generation of machines.
Due to an even higher quality choice of material, the sandwich bottom floor of the charging bunker is substantially lower-noise when in operation than comparable machine generations before.
Furthermore, a footswitch is employed. By activating this switch the machine travel is interrupted immediately in order to avoid any obstructions caused by foreign objects and to protect persons in the area of the charging floor. Moreover, a retainer flap prevents unintentional material leakage.
This and other measures increase both ease of use and operating safety substantially. Commenting in this Holger Ververs, Head of Planning and Applications Technology at CYRUS GmbH Schwingtechnik, says: “The installation of two more of CYRUS’ charging machines in South Africa makes us proud and underscores that the added value our machines bring, our expert know-how in this field and our quality are all appreciated.”
Technical Features:
Charge material: Scrap / Grey Iron
Charge volume: 11m³
Charging output: 12 tons
Max. piece weight: 100 kg
Ambient temperature: -20 to +40°C
Drive power: -2 x 2.7 kW (vibrating trough) – 1 x 1.5 kW (travel drive)
