Die-casting machine and operating method

A method for operating a die-casting machine which has a casting mould, a casting chamber, a casting piston arranged in an axially movable manner in the casting chamber, a melt inlet channel which leads into the casting chamber, a shut-off valve in the melt inlet channel, and a melt outlet channel which leads from the casting chamber to the casting mould, the method comprising:

• for carrying out a respective casting process, in a mould-filling phase, with the shut-off valve closed, the casting piston in the casting chamber is advanced from a casting start position to a filling end position, and as a result melt material is pressed into the casting mould via the melt outlet channel and, in a subsequent refilling phase, the casting piston is moved back to the casting start position and, as a result, with the shut-off valve open, the casting chamber is supplied with melt material via the melt inlet channel, wherein
• during a start-of-operation casting process in a pre-filling phase of the start-of-operation casting process before the mould-filling phase, with the shut-off valve closed, the casting piston in the casting chamber is advanced from a start-of-operation position to a pre-filling position, and then the shut-off valve is opened and the casting piston is moved back to the casting start position.