Jim Cody of Mesa Fully Formed in the Phoenix area knows the power... and the potential... of the Autocaster, Gruber’s automated casting machine.

When Jim purchased his first Autocaster™ Continuous Casting System, he did so to speed production when using lightweight fillers in his Bathtub and Shower Pan Department. Until he made this move, his crews mixed the lightweight filler batches using oldfashioned mortar mixers... not quite the most efficient way to cast such large products. The Autocaster, with its standard two filler hoppers and the capability of handling many different materials, even lightweight fillers, gave him the flexibility he needed during production.

Jim was so satisfied with this Autocaster’s performance that he soon replaced the European-made casting machine that he had been using in his Panel Department. Between that machine’s aging technology and the difficulty in getting replacement parts from overseas when the machine broke down (and lost production time), his new Autocaster Economizer is the perfect solution.

With the two Autocaster machines, Mesa’s workflow has been tremendously improved, eliminating back-breaking labor, reducing man hours, and greatly improving the consistency of the company’s products.

While all these changes were taking place in the plant, Mesa also began offering Granatex products. After first experimenting with spray material, Jim decided to switch to the cast product for a more durable material. During the first year the crews mixed 40,000 lbs. of Granatex filler using 5 lb. buckets. This method continued, even though their production increased... first to 160,000 lbs., then to 275,000 lbs., ...and finally to 500,000 lbs. of material!

That’s a lot of mixing using 5 gallon buckets! Overall, he felt his service level was poor and he couldn’t maintain product consistency... a change was definitely necessary!

Jim contacted Gruber Systems and, after discussions concerning his needs and goals, decided to retrofit his initial Autocaster to accommodate 5 filler hoppers:one for use with Calcium Carbonate, one for Lightweight Filler, and 3 for a variety of the Granatex Fillers he was using. Now he casts his Granatex products via his recipe-controlled Autocaster with the amounts of Granatex, lightweight filler and Calcium Carbonate dispensed based on the preset recipe the operator selects. He’s even been able to create new materials using these fillers because of the flexibility the machine gives him.

“We set up a run of panels, tubs, and shower pans, and everything just moves along. The 5-Hopper Autocaster has been a huge time saver as well as labor saver in my business. Our demolding times have also been greatly reduced so we can turn molds a lot more often.”

The Autocaster’s five hoppers are accessed via a horizontal transfer auger. Material in each hopper is dispensed when a plate that covers the tube on the hopper is opened either electronically or manually. Thus, Jim and his team can mix and match any three of the products in the hoppers via the recipe controls on the machine.

Both of the Autocasters at Mesa Fully Formed are equipped with Gruber’s Promoter Metering System. Mesa uses unpromoted resin that they buy in bulk and store in outside tanks. Because temperatures can run very high in the Phoenix area, a promoted resin would crystallize due to the heat. The optional Promoter Metering System on the Autocaster allows the operator to fill a small dispensing tank on the machine with Cobalt Naphthenate or another liquid promoter. The promoter is then precisely metered into the resin before it is introduced to the catalyst to speed polymerization.

The Autocaster has been impressing manufacturers around the world with the numerous advantages it brings to any cast polymer plant. With features such as recipe control, matrix output of 60 lbs. a minute (for standard units), an ultra-efficient resin heating system, two or more filler hoppers, dual built-in cleaning systems, and a computerized material totalizer... to name a few... it’s a machine worthy of the praise it is getting... Check it out!

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