JPH054888B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a slush forming apparatus, and more particularly to a slush forming apparatus suitable for automated production of a wide variety of slush formed skins.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, equipment for automated production of slush-molded skins consists of a conveyor on which a large number of molds are successively mounted at regular intervals, a preheating device arranged at the same intervals as the molds on the conveyor, There is known an apparatus in which a casting device, a cure heating device, etc. are combined, and a conveyor is moved in increments every time all the steps are completed, so that all the molds are sent one step at a time, and molded one by one.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Although the conventional slush forming apparatus has the advantage of being able to automate the production of slush molded products with a relatively simple mechanism, it is difficult to process all the molds on the conveyor at once. Since each process is sent to the next process, if there is a difference in the time of each process, the time of each process must be adjusted to the time of the longest process. There was a waiting time for the mold, and the productivity for one side of the mold was extremely low.

In addition, as a means to shorten the molding cycle in this case, each process that takes a long time is divided into
A method has been used in which the material is divided into a considerable number of stations for equal time, but this method has the disadvantage that the equipment becomes long and a large number of molds are required.

In addition, when molding two or more types of molds with different molding conditions are simultaneously installed in one molding machine, the optimal molding conditions should be given to each mold, but the above-mentioned Due to process time constraints, molding had to be performed under similar conditions, resulting in defects in molded products due to overheating or overcooling.

The present invention directly addresses the drawbacks of the prior art and maximizes the productivity for one side of the mold, resulting in the same productivity as the conventional one with a minimum number of mold sides, and two or more molding conditions with different molding conditions. A compact slush molding device that can provide optimal molding conditions to each mold and maintain an appropriate molding cycle even when molding different types of molds are simultaneously installed in one molding device. The purpose is to provide the following.

(Means for Solving the Problem) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the inventor of the present application analyzed and researched each process of slush molding, and found that in slush molding, the time required for preheating the mold is generally the longest. It has been discovered that the time required for the following steps, namely the casting step, cure heating step, cooling step, and demolding step, can be made shorter than that.
By keeping the preheating process, which is the first process of molding, longer than any other process, and moving each feeding device independently of each other for the following process times,
The following process creates a situation in which the mold can be advanced to the previous process in a sequential manner without stagnation. That is,
The time of each process is not limited in any way, and the process can be moved to the next process immediately upon completion of the process set under the optimum conditions for each mold.

The feature of the present invention, which was completed based on this idea, is that the slush molding device is composed of at least preheating, casting, cure heating, cooling, and molded product removal stations, and a conveyor that transports the mold between the stations. The slush molding apparatus has a standby station upstream of the heating station, is designed so that molds can be immediately sent to the preheating station, and has a conveyor function to independently feed each mold to one station at a time.
By configuring the slush molding device as described above and operating the conveyors between each station independently, molding can be performed under the optimal molding conditions specific to each mold, and the waiting time between processes can be reduced. In addition, a waiting station is provided to transport the mold that has completed the final demolding process at high speed, and waits at this waiting station so that the previous mold can be preheated. After finishing a process and moving to the next process, the next mold can start the preheating process without delay, and each process can proceed without waste and without stagnation.

(Example) Specific examples of the present invention will be further described below.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a slush forming apparatus according to a specific embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a mold for a console box installed in the slush forming apparatus of this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the slush forming apparatus of this embodiment includes a preheating station 1, a first casting station 2, a first cure heating station 3, and a second curing station 3.
It is composed of a casting station 4, a second cure heating station 5, a cooling station 6, a take-out station 7, waiting stations 8 and 9, and a conveyor that transports the mold between the stations.

The mold 90 installed in the slush molding apparatus of this embodiment includes a slush mold 11 whose shape is copied onto a rectangular mold carrier 10 by a known method such as electroforming or thermal spraying, as shown in FIG.
The mold carrier 10 is made of steel or the like in a rectangular frame, and has a rotating shaft 12 at the center of both sides in the longitudinal direction. A handle plate 15 is provided with one roller 13 facing inward, and two holes 14 at symmetrical positions with the rotating shaft 12 in between.

Each station of the slush forming apparatus, namely a preheating station 1, a first casting station 2, a first curing heating station 3, a second casting station 4, a second curing heating station 5,
The cooling station 6, the take-out station 7, and the standby stations 8 and 9 are equipped with sensors such as limit switches and photoelectric switches, which can detect the presence or absence of a mold in each station.

In addition, to explain the structure and function of each station individually, the preheating station 1, the first cure heating station 3, and the second cure heating station 5 each have a large number of hot air injection nozzles or small holes 16 on the inner lower surface. , has a pair of left and right mold rotating devices 17 as shown in FIG. The mold rotating device 17 has a prime mover 19 which is fixed to the frame 18 of the slush molding device on the same axis as the rotary shaft 12 of the mold 90 and consists of an electric motor, a hydraulic motor, an air motor, etc., and the output of the prime mover 19 The shaft is attached to the frame 18 and has two bearings 21.
It is connected via a coupling ring 20 to a rotating shaft 23 which is rotatably supported by a rotary shaft 23.
A mold coupling jig 24 is provided at the tip of 3. The mold coupling jig 24 is inserted between the gaps in the running rails of tact feed conveyors 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, and 56, which will be described later, and connects the rollers 13 of the mold.
A running surface 25 on which the running surface 25 runs, a back member 27 that is perpendicular to the running surface 25, faces the handle plate 15 of the molding mold, and has holes 26 at the same pitch as the holes 14 of the handle plate 15; Further, the movable rail 29 is provided with a cylindrical sliding guide 28 on the back side, and has a hole 30 in the center that can slide against the sliding guide 28 of the movable rail 29, and has a concave and endless shape on the peripheral surface. A sliding pin member 33 has a pin 22 with a rounded tip at the same pitch as the hole 26 of the movable rail 29 on the end face of a sliding link 32 having a groove 31, a hole 30 in the center of the sliding pin member 33, and The pin 22 is slidably inserted into the sliding guide 28 and hole 26 of the movable rail 29, respectively,
Furthermore, a link 34 is rotatably inserted into the groove 31 on the outer peripheral surface of the sliding link 32 of the sliding pin member 33, and the link 34 is coupled to two cylinders 35 fixed to the frame 18. Become. With the above structure, the mold rotating device 27 extends the cylinder 35 with the hole 14 of the handle plate 15 of the mold 90 aligned with the hole 26 of the movable rail 29, and rotates the sliding link 22 to the movable rail. Push the pin 22 forward against the sliding guide 28 of the movable rail 29 to the outside from the hole 26 of the movable rail 29 and insert it into the 14 hole of the handle plate 15 of the mold, and integrally connect the mold to the movable rail 29. .

Thereafter, the prime mover 19 is rotated, and the mold can be rotated together with the movable rail 29. Although it is preferable to provide a pair of left and right mold rotating devices 17, one side may not have the prime mover 19 and the coupling 20 in FIG. The preheating station 1, the first cure heating station 3, and the second cure heating station 5 are equipped with the above-mentioned hot air injection nozzle 16 and mold rotation device 17.
This allows the mold to be heated uniformly while being rotated. The first casting station 2 and the second casting station 4 have reservoir tanks 36, 37 and lifting devices 38, 39 in addition to the aforementioned rotating device 17. reservoir tank 36,
Reference numeral 37 is for storing a slush molding material such as polyvinyl chloride powder or plastisol and discharging the slush molding material into the cavity of the mold as necessary. It is a box-shaped body that has a coupling device (not shown) that can be integrally coupled without any need for repair.

In addition, the reservoir tank lifting devices 38 and 39 are
Bed 40, 41 due to cylinder, electric motor, etc.
moves up and down, and the reservoir tanks 36 and 37 are placed in bed 4.
The reservoir tanks 36, 37 are mounted on the molds 36, 41 without using any coupling means, and are moved up and down to couple and separate the reservoir tanks 36, 37 and the molds.

The first casting station 2 and the second casting station 4 of this embodiment have reservoir tanks 36 and 3.
7 and the mold are combined together, the mold and the reservoir tanks 36, 37 are rotated in an integrated state by the mold rotation device 17, and the reservoir tanks 36, 37 are placed in the cavity of the mold 90 in advance. This is used to input and discharge the slush raw materials.

In this example, in order to manufacture a skin having a foam layer on the back side of the solid layer, the reservoir tank 36 of the first casting station 2 is filled with thermoplastic resin powder such as vinyl chloride resin for forming the solid layer. , the reservoir tank 3 of the second casting station 4
7 contains a foaming agent-added thermoplastic resin powder for forming a foam layer. The cooling station 6 has the above-mentioned mold rotating device 17, as well as a shower nozzle 42 for spraying cooling water from the upper surface of the mold, and an air injection nozzle (not shown) for draining water. Retrieval station 7
In addition to being equipped with the above-mentioned rotating device 17, the mold has a function of stopping the mold in a preset posture using a sensor such as a limit switch, so that the mold can be easily removed from the mold by an operator. , which has the function of directing the opening of the mold toward the operator. Waiting station 8,9
In this embodiment, there are two types of different shapes. That is, the upper waiting station 8 is
As shown in FIG. 4, mold stop devices 4 are installed on both sides of a pair of running rails 43 of a return conveyor 50, which will be described later.
4.

The mold stop device 44 has plate-shaped sliding rails 46 having grooves 45 on the inside, which are arranged at regular intervals so that the grooves 45 face each other, and between them,
A stopper 48, which is a plate-like member having a notch 47 at the top, is inserted with both sides thereof fitting into the groove 45 of the sliding rail 46, and a stopper 48 is inserted into the lower side of the stopper 48 integrally with the sliding rail 46. By connecting the connected rods of the cylinders 49 and expanding and contracting the rods of the cylinders 49, the stopper 47 can be raised and lowered by sliding on the groove 45 of the slide rail 46.
The rotating shaft 12 of the mold is inserted into the notch 47 of the stopper 48.
It has the function of locking the position of the mold by sandwiching it between the molds.

Moreover, this type of standby station is one in which only a sensor for detecting the presence of a mold is provided at the end of a running rail 59 of a tact conveyor 50, which will be described later.

Each of the aforementioned stations includes a standby station 9 having only a sensor at the lower stage, a preheating station 1, a first casting station 2, and a first casting station 2.
A cure heating station 5, a second casting station 4, a second cure heating station 5, a cooling station 6, and a take-out station 7 are arranged in a line in the order listed, and six waiting stations 8 are arranged in the upper stage. A feed conveyor is installed between the two.
Set of tact feed conveyors 50, 51, 52, 5
3, 54, 55, 56, two lift conveyors 57, 58, and a return conveyor 59. For feeding between the lower stations, an independent tact feeding conveyor 50,
51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, a return conveyor 59 on the upper stage, and lift conveyors 57, 58 between the upper stage and the lower stage are combined in a loop shape.

Figure 5 shows tact feed conveyors 50, 51, 5.
2, 53, 54, 55, and 56 as viewed from above; FIG. Tact feed conveyor 50,5
1, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 are molds 9
It consists of a pair of rails 59 on which the rollers 13 of the handle plate 15 of No. 0 run, and a feeding device 60. The traveling rail 59 is arranged on the same plane as the movable rail between the movable rails of the rotation devices of each station mentioned above, and is formed and rolled on the traveling rail 59 from the movable rail of the previous process to the movable rail of the next process. It is configured so that it can be moved.

Further, the feeding device 60 is connected to the opposing traveling rail 5.
As shown in FIG. 6 (front view of the feeder), a bearing 64 is attached to an electric motor 63 fixed to the end of a movable base 61 via a box-shaped frame 62. , 65, the movable base 61
A feed screw 66 rotatably supported by the feed screw 66 is coupled via a coupling ring 67, and a guide made of a rod-shaped body with a round cross section is attached to the upper part of the feed screw 66 with a bearing 65 and a box-shaped frame 62 as both fixed ends. A slider that is provided with a rod 91 and has a U-shaped claw 68 at the top, a threaded hole preferably having a ball screw mechanism into which the above-mentioned feed screw 66 fits, and a guide hole 70 in which the guide rod slides. 71
is inserted into the above-mentioned feed screw 66 and guide rod 91, and by rotating the electric motor 63, the slider 71 that fits into the feed screw 66 moves back and forth. Rods of two cylinders 72 fixed to the frame 18 of the molding device are connected, and the slider 71 can be moved up and down together with the movable base 61. Tact feed conveyor 50, 51, 5
2, 53, 54, 55, and 56 move the mold on the movable rail 29 of the mold rotating device 17 of the previous station to the slider 7 by extending the cylinder 72.
The rotary shaft 12 of the mold 90 is held between the claws 68 of the mold 90 from below, the motor 60 is rotated, the slider 71 is moved, and the mold is moved on the running rail 59 by the roller 13.
The mold 90 is moved by rolling, and the mold 90 is mounted on the movable rail 29 of the mold rotating 17 device in the next process, and the cylinder 72 is retracted again to remove the claw 68 of the slider 71 from the rotating shaft 12 of the mold 90. be. The return conveyor 59 is as shown in FIG.
It is composed of a feeding device 72 and a traveling rail 73. The running rail 73 of the return conveyor 59 is similar to the previously described tact feed conveyor 50, 51, 5.
It has the same structure as the traveling rails 2, 53, 54, 55, and 56, and is provided over approximately the entire length of the upper part of the slush forming apparatus. The feed device 72 of the return conveyor 59 is significantly different from the tact feed conveyors 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, and 56, and is rotatably supported with respect to the frame 18 at both ends of the upper stage of the slush forming device. A chain 75 is provided between the sprockets 73 and 74, and a structure substantially similar to the mold stop device 44 of the standby station 8 described above is provided below the chain 75. In addition, a handling device 80 is provided which is configured to allow a conveyor 78 having a concave notch 77 to slide in and out on a slide base 79 by expanding and contracting the cylinder 76.
An electric motor 81, which is partially fixed to the frame 18, and a sprocket 73 are connected by a known power transmission mechanism 82 such as a chain or belt. The return conveyor 59 is a handling device 80
The conveying body 78 is lowered by extending the cylinder 76, and the rotating shaft 12 of the mold 90 on the traveling rail 73 is sandwiched from above by the concave notch 77 of the conveying body 78, and the handling device 80 is moved. The mold 90 can then be rolled on the travel rail 73 and moved onto the standby station 8 or the lift conveyor 57. The lift conveyors 57 and 58 are the lower tact feed conveyor 5, respectively.
0, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 and the end of the return conveyor 59. Sprockets (not shown) are rotatably supported on the top and bottom of both ends of the frame 18 of the slush forming device. Pass the chain (not shown) over the sprocket,
Lifts 83 and 84 are provided on a part of the chain, and an electric motor 8 is fixed to a part of the frame 18.
5, the lift conveyor 57 is configured to be able to transmit power to the sprocket and move the lifts 83 and 84 up and down, and the lift conveyor 57 transfers the forming mold from the upper return conveyor to the lower first left tact feed conveyor 50. The tact conveyor 58 on the right side of FIG. 1 conveys the mold from the tact conveyor 56 to the return conveyor of the stage.

The operation of the slush forming apparatus of this embodiment will be explained below by following each step of slush forming.

Initially, the slush molding apparatus of this embodiment starts molding from a state in which there are no molds at all in the lower stage and molds with an arbitrary number of surfaces in the standby station in the upper stage.

As the first step, the stopper 48 of the mold stopper 44 of the standby station 8 at the left end of the upper stage is lowered, the rotation shaft 12 of the mold 90 is released from the notch 47 of the stopper 48, and the top of the traveling rail 73 is molded. The mold should be able to roll and move freely.
Then, the electric motor 81 of the return conveyor 59 is activated to move the handling device 80 directly above the former mold.

Next, the cylinder 76 is extended to lower the carrier 78, and the rotating shaft 12 of the mold 90 is inserted from above with the notch 77.

Thereafter, the electric motor 81 is started again to move the handling device 80, the mold 90 and the traveling pulley 73 are pushed and moved, and the mold 90 is mounted on the lift 83 of the lift conveyor 57, and the lift conveyor 57 is started to move the handling device 80 to the lower standby station 9. Move the mold to.

Then, the mold detection device installed in the preheating station 1 detects the preheating station 1.
The presence or absence of a mold inside is detected, and if the mold is present in the preheating station, the mold remains on standby at the standby station 9. When the detection device confirms that there is no mold in the preheating station 1, the signal is used as a trigger to move the slider 71 of the tact feed conveyor 50 directly below the mold, extend the cylinder 72, and remove the slider 71 from the preheating station 1.
The rotating shaft 12 of the mold 90 is inserted from below by the claw 68 of
The electric motor 63 is rotated to push and roll the mold 90 on the running rail 59, and the mold 90 is moved to the movable rail 29 of the mold rotating device 17 of the preheating station 1 which is continuous with the running rail 59. 72 is retracted, the slider 71 is lowered, the mold 90 is opened, and the slider is moved toward the waiting station again.

At this time, the lift conveyor 57 and the return conveyor 59 repeat the same operation as before, and transfer the mold to the waiting station 9 and wait there.

Now, according to the process, preheating station 1
The mold 90 transported inside the mold rotating device 1
Extend the cylinder 35 of No. 7 and push out the pin 22, and insert the pin 2 into the hole 14 of the handle plate 15 on both sides.
2 is inserted and fixed to the movable rail 29.

Then, while rotating the prime mover 19 of the rotating device 17, hot air is injected from the hot air injection nozzle or small hole 16 to heat the mold.

Then, after heating to a certain temperature by heating for a certain period of time preset by a timer or by measuring the temperature every moment with a thermometer, hot air is jetted from the nozzle or small hole 16 and the mold 90 is rotated. After stopping, the pin 32 of the mold rotating device 17 is removed from the hole 14 of the handle plate 15 to be free.

Then, the presence or absence of a mold in the first casting station 2 for the next process is detected, and if there is a mold in the first casting station 2 for the next process,
The mold remains in the preheating station 1, and when it is detected that there is no mold in the first casting station, the tact feed conveyor 51 is operated in the same way as the previous tact feed conveyor 50, and the mold is removed. is transported into the first casting station 2.

Tact feed conveyors 51, 52, 53, 5 for each process below the preheating station 1 of this embodiment
It is most preferable to control steps 4 and 55 by confirming and detecting the presence or absence of the mold before transporting the mold, as described above, but in reality, as mentioned above, the time required for each process is usually the preheating time. Since the process is long, there is almost no mold for the next process at the end of each process, and each process progresses smoothly.

Therefore, when the time required for each step is all set by a timer, in certain cases, a device for detecting the presence of a mold at each station may not be necessary.

In addition, when the slush molding apparatus of this embodiment is equipped with a wide variety of molds, the following steps can be carried out smoothly by intentionally setting the molds to remain in the preheating station 1 for a long time. You can proceed.

Next, the subsequent steps will be explained. As mentioned above,
While the mold 90 is being transported from the preheating station 1 to the first casting station 2, it is detected that there is no mold in the preheating station 1, and the tact conveyor 50 operates as before and waits. The molds in the station 9 are sequentially transported into the preheating station 1.

Now, the mold conveyed into the first casting station is connected to the mold rotating device 17, and then subjected to a post-casting process. To explain the casting process step by step, the reservoir tank lifting device 38 is operated and the reservoir tank 3 is placed on the bed 40 of the device.
6 is raised, and the mold is held in an attitude with the opening facing downward, and the openings are aligned with each other, and the mold is joined together by a joining device (not shown).

After that, lower the reservoir tank lifting device 38,
After the bed 40 is stopped outside the rotation radius of the mold and the reservoir tank 36, the mold and the reservoir tank 36 are rotated forward and reverse while still being integrally connected, and the slush raw material is introduced into the mold, and a semi-molten state is applied to the molding surface. After adhering to the epidermis, the mold is held on the upper side and the reservoir tank 36 is on the lower side.Then, the bed 40 is raised to hold the lower side of the reservoir tank 36 and the bonding (not shown) is performed. The device is released, the reservoir tank 36 and the mold are separated, the reservoir tank 36 is mounted on the bed 40, and the lift 4
0 and returns to the original position again, and the first casting station step in which the reservoir tank 36 is stopped is completed.

When the first casting process is completed, the gap between the first casting station 2 and the first curing heating station 3 is provided on the condition that the mold is not present in the first curing heating station 3, which is the next process. The mold 90 is transported into the first curing heating station 3 by the tact conveyor 52, and the semi-molten skin adhering to the mold 90 is cured.

Thereafter, in the same manner, the molds are sequentially conveyed to the second casting station 4 and the second cure heating station 5,
A casting process and a heating process are carried out, respectively, to form a foam layer on the back of the solid skin formed in the previous process. After these steps are completed, the tact feed conveyor 56 is activated to convey the mold to the cooling station 6 and rotate the mold for a certain period of time, triggered by a signal indicating that the mold is not present in the cooling station 6 for the next process. Shower nozzle 4
From step 2, cooling water is injected into the mold for a certain period of time to cool it down, and wind is further blown from an air injection nozzle to drain water from the mold and the skin. After the cooling process is completed, the mold is moved from the cooling station 6 to the take-out station 7 by the tact conveyor 56, triggered by the fact that the mold is not present at the take-out station 7, which is the next process, or by the operator's scanning. . At the take-out station 7, the worker is kept in a position facing the worker so that the skin can be easily removed from the mold. The mold demolded at the take-out station 7 is
The mold carrier 10 of the mold is scooped up from below by the lift 84 of the lift conveyor 58 waiting directly below the take-out station 7 and conveyed to the upper stage, and further conveyed to the waiting station 8 by the conveyor 59 to wait. Note that the conveyance speed of the conveyor 59 at this time can be set to a considerably high speed since it is not related to the molding process.

In this way, one mold completes a series of slush molding steps, and then repeats the same process cycle one after another to perform automation molding of the slush molding skin.

(Effects) The slush molding device of the present invention focuses on the fact that there is a difference in the time required for each step of the slush method or for each mold, and has the function of a feed conveyor that conveys molds between each station, which was conventionally continuous. is divided into individual parts, and only the relationship between one station and the next, regardless of other parts,
The mold is configured to be sent to the next station,
In addition, by providing a standby station before the preheating station that takes the longest time, it is possible to ensure that the mold enters the preheating station without delay, and also eliminates the waiting time at each station, eliminating unnecessary processes. By transporting the molds at high speed, the overall number of molds per unit time of each mold can be greatly increased.

In conventional slush molding equipment, when production demands change and the number of molding surfaces mounted on the equipment and operated decreases, the number of moldings per unit time decreases in proportion to the decreased number of molding surfaces, reducing wasted time. Although this occurrence was unavoidable, the slush molding apparatus of the present invention has the advantage of being able to always maintain a constant number of molds per unit time even if the number of mold faces changes.

The slush molding device of the present invention can individually set optimal conditions for molds with different molding conditions, which prevents quality deterioration due to overheating and overcooling of the skin, and reduces raw materials and energy consumption. There is an effect that can also contribute.

Furthermore, the slush molding equipment of the present invention has a higher operating rate for each mold than conventional equipment, so the number of molds owned can be reduced compared to conventional equipment with the same production capacity, and the equipment can also be made smaller. It has the advantage of being able to do things.

Furthermore, when the slush forming apparatus of the present invention is implemented in the form of the previous embodiment, the molds are only mounted on rails in the lower tact conveyor section and the upper conveyor section, and are not connected in any way. This has the advantage that changing molds due to changes in production plans is easy and can be carried out without stopping the operation of the equipment.

Furthermore, as long as the number of molds is within the number of waiting stations, they can be freely mounted and removed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a specific embodiment of the slush forming apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a mold used in the specific embodiment of the slush forming apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. is a front partial sectional view of the mold rotating device, FIG. 4 is a front view of the standby station, FIG. 5 is a view of the tact feeding conveyor viewed from directly above, and FIG. 6 is a view of the tact feeding conveyor. FIG. 7 is a front partial sectional view of the feeding device of FIG.
The figure is a front view of the return conveyor. 1... Preheating station, 2... First casting station, 3... First curing station,
4... Second casting station, 5... Second curing station, 6... Cooling station, 7...
Retrieval station, 8...Waiting station, 9
...Waiting station, 50, 51, 52, 5
3, 54, 55, 56...Tact feed conveyor,
57, 58...Lift conveyor, 59...Return conveyor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A standby station upstream of the preheating station in a slush molding device comprising at least preheating, casting, cure heating, cooling, and take-out stations, and a conveyor for transporting the mold between the stations. 1. A slush molding apparatus characterized in that the conveyor has a function of transporting each mold individually to one station independently of the others. 2 Equipped with a device that detects the presence or absence of a mold at a specific or all stations, and when the process at one station is completed and there is no mold at the station for the next process, the mold at that station is transferred to the next process. 2. The slush forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slush forming apparatus is fed to a slush forming station. 3. The slush forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each step of the preheating, casting, cure heating, and cooling stations or all of the steps are controlled by a timer. 4. The slush molding apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein each mold has a different timer setting. 5. The slush forming apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the preheating step is set for the longest time.