The following items were written by Plastics News reporters Tom Ford and Bill Bregar at Plastics USA, held Sept. 12-14 in Chicago.
MacBeth of New Windsor, N.Y., a unit of Kollmorgen Instruments Corp., displayed its systems approach to color analysis.
The company showed new products, including its portable ColorChecker 545, laboratory model Color-Eye 3100, 2445 and 7000 and ProPalette and Opti-view color-matching software.
The Optiview software has an on-line help option, making it easier to use, the firm said. Different displays can be combined on a single screen with multiple document interface feature.
MacBeth offers color matching, color quality and process control systems, lighting booths and luminaires.
Enerpac has manual mold clamp system
Enerpac showed a new manual injection mold clamping system the company said makes changeovers quicker and simpler.
The Enerpac QMC System is designed for machines with up to 300 tons of clamping force. A simple handle movement locks a centering ring adapter in the clamping plate. The centering ring can be easily fitted to new and existing molds, according to Enerpac of Butler, Wis. The firm is a unit of Applied Power Inc.
New laser sustems measuer blown film
TSI Inc. of St. Paul, Minn., introduced a line of laser-beam systems to measure blown film and extruded products, including sheet.
The LS50 Series of LaserSpeed Systems include a signal processor and up to 16 compact optical sensors that produce two infrared laser beams that cross in space.
Porous mold steel doesn't trap gases
International Mold Steel Inc. of Erlanger, Ky., showed steel that ``breathes.''
The new porous steel allows trapped gas - a problem in injection molding thin parts - to escape. The firm describes the steel, called Porcerax II, as a powdered metal that is proc-essed into a pumice-like porous material that is 20-30 percent air.
Tiny spaces in the steel are small enough to restrict the flow of resin.
Briefly. . .
A new algorithm on HPM Corp.'s Command 9000 controller is said to make the system very easy to use. One feature is automatic setup of slowdown during mold opening and closing. It is now standard on all hydraulic injection presses from the Mount Gilead, Ohio, firm.
A new warranty from Sumi-tomo Plastics-Machinery of Norcross, Ga., covers everything except filters, fuses and bulbs, for either 24 or 48 months, on the company's injection molding machines. ... AEC Inc.'s Application Engineering unit unveiled a more-efficient model of its NEC-series of water- and air-cooled chillers that reduces floor space, cutting the machine's length by up to 30 percent. AEC is based in Wood Dale, Ill. ... Werner & Pfleiderer Corp. of Ramsey, N.J., demonstrated an early prototype of a CD-ROM operator manual for use with its ZSK twin-screw extruders.
