Windsor machine able to run 2 molds at once
Windsor Kunststofftechnologie GmbH of Hanau, Germany, has developed a machine for lost-core casting that has two independent clamping units, so it runs two molds at once.
Siemens Automotive, based in Auburn Hills, Mich., is running the press in a plant in Canada that manufactures plastic air-intake manifolds.
The KGM Duo casting press has a clamping force of 100 tons for each of the two clamping units.
Previous core casting machines had a much lower clamping force, up to 55 tons, according to Volker Jahrling, Windsor's general manager.
The closing units of the press each have one moving platen. They share a fixed central platen. Each clamping unit has its own independent hydraulic unit and controller, so the independent operations can use dissimilar molds.
The lost-core process produces plastic parts such as manifolds, valve housings and water pumps, with complex internal geometry and precise wall thickness.
Tel. +49 (6181) 900-30, fax +49 (6181) 900-341, e-mail [email protected] windsor-gmbh.de.
Sandretto press line for thermoset molding
Sandretto USA of Freedom, Pa., said its Series Nine injection molding machine line is now available for thermoset molding.
Series Nine thermoset machines come in clamping forces of 75, 110, 140, 240, 330, 440 and 550 tons.
The injection press incorporates a modular, two-piece machine design. Sandretto manufactures the clamp and injection units separately.
When an order comes in, Sandretto matches the proper clamp and injection unit and assembles them together into a complete machine.
The machines come with a bimetallic screw with a length-to-diameter ratio of 15-to-1 and an Ultramax barrel assembly configured with a 1-1 compression ratio as standard.
Using a standard quick-barrel- change feature, the machine can be reconfigured to run thermoplastic resins, thanks to a convenient hopper-mounted forward design, according to the company. The changeover takes only 30-40 minutes.
Tel. (724) 775-4255, fax (724) 775-4246, e-mail [email protected] drettousa.com.
Heitec's tip extension handles high temps
Hot-runner tip extensions that can handle high temperatures are being offered by Heitec Heisskanaltechnik GmbH.
Heitec's new tip extensions can handle processing temperatures of more than 650ø F and are designed for engineering resins such as reinforced polyphenylene sulfide. They are an extension of Heitec's tip-extension product line for commodity resins. The extensions are based on advances in optimizing heat-transfer and thermal profiles.
Heitec, of Bottendorf, Germany, is represented in North America by Technoject Machinery Corp., a new company in Bolton, Ontario. Paul Boettger recently established Technoject after he and his partners in JPI Technologies Inc. decided to wind down JPI gradually and go their separate ways.
JPI, headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, had been handling Heitec products and will fulfill existing orders.
Tel. (905) 951-7144, fax (905) 951-7147, e-mail mailto.paul.boett [email protected]
Milacron focusing on all-electric machines
Milacron Inc. has opened a showroom in Cincinnati for its all-electric injection molding machines. The firm also announced a new capability to do foam molding with electric machines.
``We are teaming up with utilities and energy aggregators/brokers to package all-electric molding technology as part of a long-term energy and cost reduction program that makes sense in the boardroom,'' said Barr Klaus, vice president of technology for Ferromatik Milacron North America.
Presses in the showroom, dubbed the Energy Resource Center, will hold a variety of parts, from small parts to five-gallon buckets and PET preforms.
In other news, Milacron's Elektron Technologies and Uniloy Milacron, which makes structural foam machines, have joined forces to link the two technologies. Milacron said a major foam molder, which it did not identify, wanted a large all-electric press for quiet operation, energy savings and other known benefits of the technology.
``It turned out that foam molding on a two-stage electric [press] actually has inherent benefits that simply are not available to reciprocating-screw [presses],'' said Dave Bernardi, director of sales and marketing for Elektron.
Uniloy Milacron's foam specialists developed a screw, a barrel-cooling system and gas-metering hardware for their Sidewinder foam press. In a few weeks, the machine was making trial parts.
Milacron's electric presses use a two-stage process, with an extruder feeding a shooting pot. Because the gas always goes into the same spot on the extruder screw, the quality of the foamed melt remains consistent, Milacron said. In traditional machines, the gas inset port has to ``chase'' a reciprocating screw.
Milacron's Plastics Technologies Group is in Batavia, Ohio.
Tel. (513) 536-2000, fax (513) 536-2441.
MiniLab extruder can test 8 grams of plastic
Thermo Haake of Paramus, N.J., introduced its MiniLab twin-screw compounding extruder, with built-in rheological testing.
The machine enables testing with only 8 grams of plastic. Viscosity is measured in a patent-pending backflow channel.
With the push of a button, an inert gas flushes out the feeding area and barrel.
Tel. (201) 265-7865, fax (201) 265-1977, e-mail [email protected] thermohaake.com.
Hull/Finmac: Controls on press easy to use
Hull/Finmac Inc. is touting the easy-to-use controller on its new injection press, which has a clamping force of 300 tons.
The press is available to mold either thermoset or thermoplastic materials, according to the company in Warminster, Pa. Hull/Finmac provides barrels for either type of processing. The touch-screen control panel displays a photograph of an actual press, showing machine parts and subsystems, such as screens showing the clamp position, instead of diagrams. The operator can easily change parameters such as hold time, heat zone temperatures, clamp position and injection compression setup.
Hull/Finmac also introduced an airless throw-wheel design for its Rollaveyor, press-side deflashing system. A centrifugal wheel replaces compressed air for delivery of the deflashing material to the plastic parts.
Tel. (215) 441-8163, fax (215) 441-8168.
Leistritz extruder has downstream system
American Leistritz Extruder Corp. introduced a downstream system for running direct extrusion of sheet on laboratory or small-scale production equipment.
Leistritz, of Somerville, N.J., upgraded the roll stack design to accommodate the higher throughput rates from its new, 1,200-revolutions-per-minute version of its ZSE-27.
The system includes a three-roll stack with rotary unions for liquid cooling or heating. A three-horsepower, alternating-current flux vector motor/drive enables a turndown ratio of 1,000 to one.
Tel. (908) 685-2333, fax (908) 685-0247, e-mail [email protected] .com.
Merritt Davis series rolled out at Interwire
Merritt Davis Corp. rolled out a series of small high-precision MD-brand extruders at the Interwire 2001 show, held in Atlanta in May.
At the show, the firm showed an extruder with a screw diameter of one and a half inches and a length-to-diameter of 24 to one.
Standard on all MD extruders is a heavy-duty, one piece double reduction gear box rated at 30 horsepower. Also standard is a dual melt temperature and pressure transducer, with separate readouts. MD machines use the company's H-frame design, which gives a more stable base than tripod-mounted extruders, according to the company in Hamden, Conn.
Tel. (203) 230-8100, fax (203) 230-8989.
Autojectors: Evolution boasts many advances
Autojectors Inc., a unit of Milacron Inc. that makes vertical-clamp injection presses, said its Evolution machines boast advances in the rotary-table drive, the part-ejection mechanism and the hydraulic manifold.
Autojectors, which introduced the Evolution at NPE 2000, also has added a model with 50 tons of clamping force.
The table drive uses a higher-torque hydraulic motor and a more-precise system of gears than past Autojectors machines. The table now stops and indexes faster and with more precision and less wear on the system, even with very heavy molds, the firm said.
Autojectors also now uses a potentiometer-based system, instead of a proximity switch, to control ejection cylinders. That means operators can adjust ejection on a controller screen, instead of manually. Settings can be stored in the controller. On the hydraulic side, Autojectors streamlined the system by using one fluid reservoir instead of two and shortening the distance between the pump and the injection unit.
Autojectors also said Evolution machines have 40 percent more mold space than earlier presses, even with their smaller footprint.
Tel. (219) 897-4100, fax (219) 897-3973, e-mail [email protected] tors.com.
Alba starts marketing cylinders, manifolds
Alba Enterprises Inc. is marketing new intelligent hydraulic mold cylinders and pre-wired manifolds for hot runner systems.
Vega hydraulic cylinders are designed for injection molds and die cast molds, to enable hydraulic movement of slides, cores or other functions. Alba offers the cylinders with or without adjustable magnetic proximity switches.
The firm in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., also is distributing pre-wired manifolds for Thermoplay hot runner systems. The manifolds are designed for customers that prefer to machine their own plates but want to ensure the wiring is correct and shorten installation time.
Tel. (909) 941-0600, fax (909) 941-0190, e-mail [email protected] com.com.
Uniloy's new machine boasts top-fed design
Uniloy Milacron of Manchester, Mich., has developed a blow molding machine for polycarbonate bottles with capacities of three to six gallons, with integrated trimming.
The RSI3500 P/C offers exclusive top-fed head, fully packed smooth interior-diameter neck and a high-tonnage clamp.
The top-fed, direct-flow design improves parison clarity and reduces chances for degradation and burning of material.
A Siemens controller provides 128-point parison programming.
Tel. (734) 428-8371, fax (734) 428-1165.
