Cluster valve gating perfects microparts

Mold Hotrunner Solutions (Georgetown, ON) recently debuted its Rheo-Pro M05VG multi-tip valve-gate hot runner. It is said to be ideal for molding direct-gated microparts with crisp, clean gate marks, and it distributes melt through tight, circular clusters of six gates per nozzle. An X-shaped hot runner manifold system with four nozzles, for example, will feed a 24-cavity mold. The extremely tight gate spacing offers the most compact mold design for microparts. This is important because it reduces the melt residence time for sensitive molding materials like POM, PC, and PSU.

The M05VG can direct-gate microparts with a weight of less than 5 mg. It delivers crisp, clean gate marks of 0.7-1.0 mm in diameter with zero gate vestige. Traditional thermal gating and hot-tip gating experience inherent problems with microparts because of cold slugs below the surface and gate vestige on the surface. These methods reportedly often fail to achieve the part quality required for precision micro parts, particularly in medical applications. —[email protected]