Shot Sleeve Maintenance

Brushing every day and having your teeth professionally cleaned and polished will correct problems before they become an expensive and painful experience.

Perform the following periodic inspections and procedures and you could save a sleeve before it is too late:

• Degrease and sandblast each time a sleeve is taken from service. If a crack exists, it will quickly become visible because the grease stays in the crack. Grinding and polishing the cracks at the die end and around the pour hole will extend sleeve life. If left unchecked, these cracks can go the length of the sleeve and you could have a catastrophic failure.
• Watch out for washouts. All sleeves will washout over time, but proper maintenance helps. If there is a gross washout, very deep with sharp, jagged edges, you may have a mechanical separation of the grain boundaries caused by excessive temperature when the metal temperature is above 1,300°.
• Clean the bore and check it for size. Use a good bore gauge and check both ends and in the middle of the sleeve. You may uncover an excessive bell-mouth or taper condition.
• If you're experiencing excessive plunger tip wear, sticking plunger tips, or plunger tip flash by, it's probably time to call us for professional reconditioning.