Apparatus for casting

Apparatus for the casting of cast parts comprising:

• a pivotable retaining element capable of alternatively holding a low-pressure permanent mold or a gravity permanent mold, wherein the pivotable retaining element is compatible with both the low-pressure permanent mold and the gravity permanent mold but only holds one at a time,
• a furnace which is embodied to be connected to the low-pressure permanent mold in such a way that melt may be fed from below to the low-pressure permanent mold, held by the retaining element, in accordance with a low-pressure process, and
• a melt feed device which is embodied for feeding to the gravity permanent mold held by the retaining element from the furnace, when configured for a gravity casting process, wherein the gravity permanent mold has in its upper area a pouring basin which is open at a top, to which the melt is fed from above according to a gravity molding process, the apparatus configured to perform a method for casting of the cast parts comprising:
• during the low-pressure process, mounting the low-pressure permanent mold in the pivotable retaining element and feeding melt from the furnace to the low-pressure permanent mold, via a melt line of the apparatus according to a low-pressure casting configuration,
• converting to a gravity casting configuration by mounting the gravity permanent mold in the pivotable retaining element to replace the low-pressure permanent mold, and
• during the gravity casting, feeding melt from the furnace to the gravity permanent mold using a melt feed device of the apparatus according to a gravity casting configuration, wherein the pivotable retaining element is compatible with both the low-pressure permanent mold and the gravity permanent mold.