How can you argue with Engel North America's NPE 2015 motto: “It's your choice to be a winner!”? Mark down the booth number: W-1303.
Engel will show eight plastics applications at the Orlando, Fla., event, covering automotive, packaging, medical, electronics and technical molding. Highlights include what Engel calls the first composite brake pedal manufactured in a one-shot process, the new Engel e-speed press, the e-pic pick-and-place robot and innovative service programs.
Mark Sankovitch, president and CEO of Engel North America, said lightweight construction will be a major area of focus.
“In the next few years, we can look forward to strong growth in the injection molding industry, particularly in the field of fiber composite engineering,” he said.
For composites to find wider use in automotive, the biggest challenge will be to develop manufacturing processes that give low unit costs despite high volumes, he said. Engel established its own technology center for lightweight composites in its plant in St. Valentin, Austria, in 2012.
At NPE 2015, Engel will partner with Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen AG to produce the plastic brake pedal from a thermoplastic fabric. The work cell, equipped with a vertical injection press, multi-axis robot and infrared oven, will heat the fabric into a preform in a mold, and immediately overmold it with nylon. A finished part comes out, with no need for trimming. The ZF brake pedal is 30 percent lighter than conventional steel brake pedals.
In another demonstration in Orlando, an Engel duo press with an integrated viper robot will produce center console components of polycarbonate/ABS. It will use Engel's foammelt, plus MuCell and the Variotherm injection molding process, to produce the thin-wall parts.
Engel will produce medical drip chambers with an integrated filter for blood transfusions, on an e-victory combi, three-component press. The drip chambers are made from one ABS and one PP component—injection molded, fitted with the filter and joined by overmolding with additional PP in a single step. Normally, Engel officials say, the two hollow body parts are molded individually, and the filter inlay fitted and bonded in separate steps. For the application, the mold from Hack Formenbau uses servo-electric drive technology for every movement of the indexing plate mold, which allows synchronous control of movements.
In another medical demonstration, Engel will mold needle holders for insulin pens on a 96-cavity Braunform mold, using Hekuma automation. The cores have a diameter of just 0.3 millimeters. To counter core deformation, the injection unit of the Engel e-motion press has a direct drive.
A 720-ton Engel e-speed press, debuting in North America at NPE 2015, will produce 1.5-liter containers on a four-by-four cavity StackTeck mold. A CBW side entry robot needs only a second to remove the containers from the mold.
Also at NPE 2015, Engel will produce double-ended wrenches on two e-mac presses, transferring the parts by a linear robot. The wrenches are carbon-fiber reinforced nylon, overmolded with liquid silicone between the two ends for a better grip.
A rotary insert molder will turn out connectors, fully automated with automation.
And Engel will celebrate the 25th year of tie-barless molding machines by molding fittings for drain systems on a victory press.
The e-pic robot will make its North American debut. Its design combines linear movements with a swivel arm, and uses lightweight parts. That makes the robot move fast, and use very little energy. The e-pic has its own control system, so it can be used with third-party machines, not just Engels.
NPE 2015 also will mark the worldwide introduction of Engel's new customer portal, so customers can request service or order parts more quickly than before—and easily track the status.
Engel North America is in York, Pa.
Tel. 717-764-6818, email [email protected]