Demag Ergotech touts new products
Demag Ergotech GmbH has introduced a revolving-mold arrangement, a high-speed parts-removal robot and the Ergosupport add-on control module for its injection presses.
The K show in Dusseldorf, Germany, marked the first that Demag presented the four-station use of a revolving mold, developed with Gram Technology, a mold maker in Birkerod, Denmark. Part preforms are transferred in a mold with two parallel parting lines, by rotating a mold center-plate through three injection stations. Demag was molding a dialysis tubing connector made of polypropylene, followed by a shot of thermoplastic elastomer and another shot of PP in the third station.
A robot removes the TPE sprue during the rotation.
Demag also introduced a fast robot, the DR-CB H1, which is physically integrated into the protective enclosure of the injection press. A slender robot arm permits the removal of parts from very narrow mold openings. The robot is designed for removing parts that demand very short cycle times and small mold openings, including electronic and telecommunications markets, such as cell phones.
Ergosupport uses stored process and application engineering information, so it shortens the start-up phase for new molds. The system automatically does basic machine setup, according to part geometry and material data. Then, Ergosupport helps the operator to optimize parameters.
After production begins, the controller monitors the ongoing process and helps analyze defects in molded parts.
Demag Ergotech, of Schwaig, Germany, offers Ergosupport in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.
The company's U.S. unit, Demag Ergotech USA, is based in Strongsville, Ohio.
Tel. (440) 876-8960, fax (440) 876-4383.
Maplan introduces two fence extruders
American Maplan Corp. of McPherson, Kan., has targeted the vinyl fence market, with a dual-strand extruder that can pump out up to 3,400 pounds of fence an hour. Now, Maplan has developed two additional, less-expensive extrusion systems for the fence market.
The first method adapts pipe extrusion to fence production. Maplan can convert an RD spider die to an RD dual-spider die head, to minimize melt pressure and temperature. Also, Maplan's wall-control process is incorporated into the square pin and bushing set. The system can be designed for either single- or dual-strand layout.
The second new technology uses many downstream components from the pipe extrusion sector. Features include the use of Maplan's standard coextrusion block, single- or dual-spider die heads, round pin and bushing sets with nylon pre-formers and vacuum-tank sizing sleeves. The technique also uses standard pipe vacuum tanks, cooling baths and haul-offs and saws.
Tel. (316) 241-6843, fax (316) 241-0207.
Thyssen mixers use Siemens controllers
Thyssen Henschel Industrietechnik GmbH has equipped its mixers for PVC compounding with a Siemens Win CC controller.
The Win CC shows production details in real time, including metering of all components, feedback control and mixing time and temperature and the discharge of the mix.
Thyssen Henschel is based in Kassel, Germany. Its U.S. unit, Thyssen Henschel America Inc., is in Green Bay, Wis.
Tel. (920) 336-4000, fax (920) 336-3131, e-mail [email protected]
Malcom presents portable extruder
Laptop computers revolutionized business by allowing you to take work to the beach. Now along comes the Hand-Held Plastics Extruder.
Malcom Hot Air Systems of Portsmouth, R.I., said the portable machine, supplied with a variety of dies and welding shoes, can extrude most thermoplastic materials, including vinyl, high density polyethyene and polypropylene. The plastic gets heated up to 550° F, adjustable in two-degree increments. It heats up in just three minutes.
The extruder can turn out up to 13 pounds of plastic an hour..
Prices start at $2,995, which includes a welding shoe made of a fluoropolymer material.
Tel. (888) 807-4030, fax (401) 782-1904, e-mail [email protected]
Firm unveils software for robot controller
Motoman Inc. introduced its personal computer-based robot controller, the PCXRC platform.
Motoman's PC-based software tools include VisualPallet, MotoSim, MotoCal and RobotPro, and they are run on the same central processing unit as the XRC robot controller.
The Windows-based controller also can run off-the-shelf PC-based hardware and software programs.
Motoman is based in West Carrollton, Ohio.
Tel. (937) 847-6200, fax (937) 847-6277.
Berstorff provides STC process to QPC
Quadrant Plastic Composites AG of Lenzburg, Switzerland, turned to compounding extruder supplier Berstorff GmbH when it wanted a new way to make thermoplastic products from long-glass-fiber-reinforced plastics.
The process, called sheet thermoplastics composites, is an alternative to the glass-mat thermoplastic process for making semifinished sheet for the automotive industry.
GMT sheets are used in crashworthy parts such as bumpers, dashboard mountings or spare-wheel cavities. STC products have slightly less strength than GMT, but are cheaper to produce, so they are can be used for underfloor parts and claddings that are less prone to mechanical stress.
Hanover, Germany-based Berstorff has applied for a patent on its wetting unit to make the STC sheet. The machine carefully pre-impregnates the glass-fiber rovings before they go through the extruder. Then, an internal bypass delivers the melt to two counter-rotating rollers, and a rolling bank of melt is formed in the roll gap. Fully wetted, the rovings are led from above into the roll gap, then fed into the twin screws located directly under the rollers.
The wetting process enables the glass fibers to be added to the melt in the mixing zone of the extruder, without damaging the fibers.
After a degassing stage, the material is extruded flat through a wide slot die, designed by Berstorff, that imparts no fiber orientation on the product.
GMT can switch back and forth between STC and GMT, depending on market demand, on the same equipment.
Berstorff's U.S. unit, Berstorff Corp., is based in Florence, Ky.
Tel. (859) 283-0200, fax (859) 283-0290.
Tool lets 2 materials be extruded together
Extrusion die maker Guill Tool & Engineering Co. Inc. has entered the market for building materials that coextrude plastic over a wood-fiber core.
Guill's Equaflow extrusion tooling enables the extrusion of two different materials simultaneously, such as wood-fiber core combined with a vinyl skin. The tooling is designed for solid-core, hollow-core, single-layer and multilayer wood composite applications.
The key is a balanced flow, with both materials moving at the same speed and pressure. Also, the Equaflow die counteracts the tendency of an extruded material to flow in the center by distributing the flow across the entire area of a part, said Roger Guillemete, chief executive officer of the company in West Warwick, R.I.
The die does not use a spider.
Guillemete said the company makes tooling for small medical tubing, multilayer pipe and profiles and wire coating.
Guill also has redesigned its 700 series of adjustable crosshead dies. The die holds close-tolerance walls for specialized extrusion including electronic, medical tubing and wire and cable.
Tel. (401) 828-7600, fax (401) 823-5310, e-mail [email protected]
Witte has gears with herringbone design
German pump maker Witte Pumpen- & Anlagentechnik GmbH is offering optional, herringbone-design gear on its pumps for running highly filled materials at higher pressures on extrusion, compounding, polymer extraction and transfer/booster pumps.
By replacing standard gears and bearings with one-piece herringbone gears, the Witte pumps can increase discharge pressures. Also, the life of the internal gear pump is extended.
The company in Uetersen, Germany, said the gears can be used in Witte pumps and pumps made by most other manufacturers.
Witte is represented by JLS International in Charlotte, N.C.
Tel. (704) 553-0017, fax (704) 553-1881.
Cloeren now offering plated die alternative
As an alternative to plated dies, flat die maker Cloeren Inc. now is offering hot-work alloy HS and 15-5PH stainless steel, both through-hardened to 40 Rockwell C.
Although the materials cost more than typical alloy mold steel, Cloeren will offer dies made from them for the same price as a plated die.
The company in Orange, Texas, will provide an extended warranty of two years on dies made with the new materials.
President Peter Cloeren Jr. called plating ``the weakest link of an extrusion die, both in the manufacturing process and in field performance and reliability.'' Problems can happen with unpredictable adhesion to the base metal, failure of the plating medium, lack of uniform coverage and different coefficients of expansion between the plating material and the base metal, he said.
Tel. (409) 886-5820, e-mail [email protected]
Infosys, Van Dorn develop all-electric
Infosys Ltd. helped Van Dorn Demag Corp. develop its first all-electric press, the IntElect, introduced last year at Plastics USA.
Infosys does consulting, information technology and engineering services, and it has helped the Strongsville, Ohio, machinery maker cut its product development cycle in half, and cut development costs by 25 percent.
Infosys, which is traded on the Nasdaq, is headquartered in Bangalore, India. Its U.S. headquarters is in Fremont, Calif. The company uses its engineers around the world to take advantage of a virtual, 24-hour workday to compress development time.
Van Dorn Demag originally linked up with Infosys in 1999 when it hired the company to convert paper drawings to Pro/Engineer models. After that project was complete, Van Dorn Demag gave Infosys the chance to design a vertical injection press. Other work followed, including the IntElect press.
Infosys has seen its sales double in the last two years, to hit $400 million in 2001, from $200 million in 2000 and $100 million in 1999.
Tel. (510) 742-3000, fax (510) 742-3090.