Cincinnati Process Technologies did a controls retrofit project for a structural foam molding machine for Buckhorn Inc.'s factory in Bluffton, Ind., that makes material handling containers as large as 150 pounds.
CPT did the retrofit on a 10-year-old, dual-extrusion Uniloy Milacron machine. The work included mating a new computer control system with sequential valve gating. The retrofitted structural foam machine now offers flow control at the level with many newer machines, according to CPT.
“Sequential valve gating helps eliminate wasteful overpacking of molds, provides a more balanced fill and can reduce clamp tonnage by more than 20 percent, resulting in substantial energy savings and longer machine live,” said CPT Sales Engineer Dane Bales.
Rex Reynolds, maintenance manager at Buckhorn's Bluffton factory, said it's very important to precisely control material flow to each mold, because in structural foam molding you can mount multiple molds of different sizes, each with multiple cavities, on a single platen.
CPT is based in Cincinnati.
Tel. 513-405-7240, [email protected].