Color weigh feeder--Comet's CE-1000 Weigh Feeder is a screw metering unit designed for metering free-flowing powders and color concentrate directly into the production machine feed throat.

Comet's President, Tom Rajkovich, says the company tested the unit by having it run through 14,000 cycles with 5 gm of color for a 100-gm shot. "It was off by 58 gm, or 0.0008% by weight, at the end of the 14,000th cycle," he says.

The CE-1000 comes in two versions: the SM-D has a step motor (with a claimed incremental accuracy of 1/100 of a revolution) for injection machines and the DC-D has a dc drive motor for extrusion machines. Prices start around $5600.

Both are equipped with a stainless steel material weigh hopper. The weigh hopper and metering screw are integrated into one package. When making color changes or cleaning, the entire module is removed from the machine; cleaning can then be done away from the production area. Also, the feed screw can be changed to accommodate color concentrate additives and other free-flowing materials.

The weigh unit also has a 'teach-in' feature so the product feed rate information can be stored and recalled.

The CE-1000 SM-D for injection molding machines has an electrical control that includes a digital readout and an automatic setting for the metering screw. The injection molding machine sends a signal to the feeder on the start of screw recovery.

The feeder then meters the additive directly into the feed throat by weight during this time. The number of revolutions and the rpm are controlled by the weigh scale feed-back to match the screw recovery time. The screw range is set automatically.

Comet Automation Systems, Inc.
Dayton, OH