Don't let shock and vibration affect color concentrate levels

On injection molding machines running 5- to 10-second cycles for products such as closures or caps, where color concentrate doses are only a few grams for each batch, a high level of accuracy is critical to color consistency," says B. Patrick Smith, vice president of sales and marketing for Maguire Products Inc. Equally important to molders running small machines with necessarily smaller blenders, says Smith, is that shock and vibration should not impact the accuracy of feeding color concentrates.

Maguire simulated production conditions for an injection machine running 10-second cycles in which color is dispensed every 15 seconds (Figure 1). Results showed that target and actual weights remained equivalent for this minor ingredient despite the repetitive mechanical shocks caused by simulated clamp opening and closing.

This higher accuracy is due to greater isolation of load cells from mechanical shocks that can interfere with weight readings, says Smith. New control software allows the controller to identify false readings caused by vibration or shock and wait until precise load cell signals are received.