Will “Die Casting Machine Operator” be Automated?

Core Skills & Abilities

• Remove metal ingots or cores from molds, using hand tools, cranes, and chain hoists.

• Pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds and forms to produce ingots or other castings, using ladles or hand-controlled mechanisms.

• Pull levers to lift ladle stoppers and to allow molten steel to flow into ingot molds to specified heights.

• Examine molds to ensure they are clean, smooth, and properly coated.

• Transport metal ingots to storage areas, using forklifts.

• Read temperature gauges and observe color changes, adjusting furnace flames, torches, or electrical heating units as necessary to melt metal to specifications.

• Position equipment such as ladles, grinding wheels, pouring nozzles, or crucibles, or signal other workers to position equipment.

• Turn valves to circulate water through cores, or spray water on filled molds to cool and solidify metal.

• Repair and maintain metal forms and equipment, using hand tools, sledges, and bars.

• Load specified amounts of metal and flux into furnaces or clay crucibles.

• Assemble and embed cores in casting frames, using hand tools and equipment.

• Add metal to molds to compensate for shrinkage.

• Remove solidified steel or slag from pouring nozzles, using long bars or oxygen burners.

• Skim slag or remove excess metal from ingots or equipment, using hand tools, strainers, rakes, or burners, collecting scrap for recycling.

• Collect samples, or signal workers to sample metal for analysis.

• Stencil identifying information on ingots and pigs, using special hand tools.