1. An apparatus for winding a towpreg, comprising a spool winding machine comprising a rod-shaped body for mounting a core of a spool, wherein the core is shuttled on the rod-shaped body to allow the towpreg to maintain a straight path substantially normal to an axis of the rod-shaped body.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a spool shuttling carriage.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a towpreg delivery head.
4. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a grooved roller that allows control of a width of the towpreg.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a towpreg cooling device.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the towpreg cooling device is a towpreg cooling tunnel.
7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the towpreg cooling device is a towpreg chiller.
8. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a towpreg width measurement device.
9. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a towpreg speed regulation device for regulating a travel speed of the towpreg.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the grooved roller has a groove of a desired width and rotates in a direction of travel of the towpreg at a rotational speed resulting in a surface speed at the groove that is slower than the travel speed of the towpreg.
11. A method for winding a towpreg, comprising impregnating the towpreg with a resin and winding the towpreg on a core of a spool while simultaneously shuttling the core on a rod-shaped body to allow the towpreg to maintain a straight path substantially normal to an axis of the rod-shaped body.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising shaping the towpreg to a desired width by passing the towpreg through a groove of a grooved roller.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising passing the towpreg through a cooling device.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the towpreg cooling device is a towpreg cooling tunnel.
15. The method of claim 11, further cooling the towpreg by contacting a rotating drum.
16. The method of claim 13, further comprising regulating a travel speed of the towpreg by a speed regulation device.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the grooved roller has a groove of a desired width and rotates in a direction of travel of the towpreg at a rotational speed resulting in a surface speed at the groove that is slower than the travel speed of the towpreg.
18. The method of claim 11, further comprising passing the towpreg through a delivery head prior to the winding the towpreg on the core.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A die-casting method comprising:
clamping a pair of die inserts to a rack so that the die inserts protrude from the rack in opposite directions, wherein each die insert comprises a portion of a mold cavity;
positioning the rack between a pair of separated body portions of an external die body so that each die insert aligns with an opening in a respective one of the body portions;
moving the body portions toward each other so as to sandwich the rack therebetween so that die inserts are received within their respective openings;
ejecting the die inserts from the rack;
latching the die inserts to their respective body portions within their respective openings;
moving the body portions apart;
removing the rack from between the body portions; and
butting the body portions together, wherein latching the die inserts to their respective body portions comprises engaging a lug of each of the die inserts with a latch of the respective one of the body portions.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein butting the body portions together comprises receiving each of a plurality of alignment blocks protruding from one of the body portions in a corresponding one of a plurality of recesses of another of the body portions, wherein each of the recesses comprises adjustable sidewalls.
3. The method of claim 2, and further comprising adjusting the alignment between the body portions before or after butting them together by adjusting the positions of the adjustable sidewalls.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein ejecting the die inserts from the rack comprises pushing the die inserts from the rack using a pair of ejectors of the rack disposed between the die inserts and located adjacent opposite sides of the die inserts.