Friedrichshafen, Germany — Dr. Boy & Co. GmbH, the specialist in small-tonnage injection molding machines is getting bigger — in press sizes, that is. The company is cracking the 100-metric-ton range of clamping force.
Boy is moving to the larger size in its 50th anniversary year.
Fakuma 2018 is the world premiere of Boy's largest press to date: the Boy 125 E, a 125-tonnes machine.
What's the motivation to top 100 tonnes? As Boy has added more multicomponent molds in recent years, "the molds are getting bigger," said Wolfgang Schmidt, export manager.
"One reason was the mold space and the other, of course, was larger tonnage. More mold space was the most important," Schmidt said in an interview at Boy's Fakuma booth.
Multicomponent molds — some of which have been designed to handle up to six injection units, Boy said — require larger machines. They also have rotary platens.
At Fakuma, the 125 E is molding two-component cups. Both components are styrene acrylonitrile but in two different colors. First, the press molds the white cup body, and then the Boy LR 5 robot repositions the cup in the upper cavity of the mold for the second, overmolded shot. The robot then removes the finished two-component cups and places them on a conveyor belt.
Boy's 125 E has a clear width of 470 millimeters (18 inches) between the tie bars, instead of the previous distance of 430 mm. The maximum platen distance has been extended to 825 mm (32.5 inches) as standard in order to accept rotary platens.