Lodge Cast Iron 2012 - GoExpo

An employee inserts a new pattern into the Disamatic, the machine that makes our sand molds. There are two halves to the pattern.
When these two halves come together we will pour our metal mixture in between them.
Lodge uses sand molds, a middle age technology. Sand molding remains the best and most practical way to produce cast iron.
Molten iron is so hot it would melt almost any other material. But the sand can hold its own against the heat.
This is how it works. Compressed air forces moist sand into a pattern that is squeezed at 700 to 1000 pounds per square inch to
form the exact contour of our skillet. Exact reverse impressions of both sides of the pan are formed in the cavity in the sand. The
molten iron fills the cavity, creating our cookware.
In pouring our molds, the liquid metal must be between 2,480 and 2,520 degrees. This temperature produces the best finish
for the castings. Following the shake off, the sand is captured, cooled and recycled.
sand removal
From here our cookware begins its cleaning process. After the molten metal is poured into the sand mold, the cookware moves
along a vibrating conveyer belt to shake off the molding sand.
The cookware is then transferred to a large rotating drum, where the cookware tumbles in a bed of iron media, which removes
much of the remaining sand.