Patent ID: 8622261

Claim:
A molten metal supply method of supplying molten metal by means of a molten metal supply cylinder for melting a wire-shaped low melting point metallic material in a solid phase and supplying the molten metal material, the molten metal supply cylinder comprising: a melting section to be directly or indirectly brought into contact with a wire-shaped low melting point metallic material to produce molten metal; and a substantially tubular flow path that has a first opening formed at an end thereof in the melting section and a second opening at the other end thereof and allows the molten metal produced in the melting section to flow from the first opening to the second opening, wherein a diameter of the first opening is less than a diameter of the wire-shaped low melting point metallic material, and an oxide on the surface of the wire-shaped low melting point metallic material is removed at an outer peripheral edge of the first opening on condition that the wire-shaped low melting point metallic material is molten, the molten metal supply method comprising: a plate-shaped body arranging step of arranging a pair of plate-shaped bodies in a state of producing a predetermined gap between them, a supply cylinder positioning step of positioning the supply cylinder in a state where the second opening and the gap are substantially connected to each other, and a molten metal supply step of supplying molten metal to the gap by way of the second opening.