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In Process 18553In Process 18553

March 2, 2005

6 Min Read
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BLOWMOLDING MACHINE BOOSTS CAPACITY

Pioneer Eclipse, a producer of floor cleaners for institutional use, recently needed to add capacity to its in-house bottle production. Pioneer needed back-up production for its 10-liter containers; interchangeability of molds from an existing machine; and a machine with flexibility that would allow the addition of new products. Pioneer bought a Uniloy UMS 16.D shuttle blowmolding machine, which it paired with its existing, 12-yr-old Uniloy Liberty IS4500 inline shuttle machine.

The older unit has been creating the primary container, a square 10-liter handled jug, for more than a decade. The bottle features a recessed bottom for a stacking design that allows the handle and spout of the bottom container to be situated into one placed on top.

Before purchasing the new unit, Pioneer had its original machine refitted with a new screw, barrel, and hydraulic drive motor. The new blowmolding machine is intended to take on growing demand for Pioneer?s 4-liter jugs, quart-sized containers, and spray bottles.

The new UMS 16.D reportedly has the smallest footprint (approximately 10 by 18 ft) of any machine that could run a 10-liter mold, and the two stations allow it to create two 10-liter containers per side in each molding cycle.

To retrofit the Liberty?s 10-liter molds for the UMS, Uniloy had FGH Systems modify the older tools. In addition, FGH created the new 4-liter molds.

For additional information, visit Uniloy Milacron at www.milacron.com, or for FGH Systems, go to www.fghsystems.com.

RIM MOVES INTO THE FAST LANE

Pairing the classical styling of the 1960s models with modern materials and processes, Moon Roof Corp. of America Inc. used reaction injection molding (RIM) and Bayer?s Bayflex 180 RRIM for the front and rear fascia; left and right rocker panels; rear bumper cover; and spoiler of the 2005 Ford GT. Moon Roof chose Bayflex 180 for its mix of mechanical properties, including heat resistance, surface quality, and rigidity. The material also proved suitable for complex shapes integrated into the fascia, fog lamps, grills, and return flanges.

The material?s surface quality and adhesion properties are well suited for painting and mar and chip resistance. The material and process created parts that were lightweight but offered durability, low-temperature impact strength, energy elasticity, good dimensional stability, and a low coefficient of linear thermal expansion.

Adding to the material?s toughness is a mica filler added directly to the polyol blend. Moon Roof molds the parts to an average wall thickness of 3 mm in a low-pressure, two-piece closed mold. After molding, the parts are sent to Advanced Technologies AG for post curing, power washing, and priming.

For more information on Moon Roof visit www.moonroof.net, for Advanced Technologies AG go to www.pgamus.com, and for Bayer?s Bayflex visit www.rimmolding.com.

SHORT RUNS, SHORTER PURGING TIMES

Short runs and the need for frequent purging left a custom injection molder of automotive lenses, game calls, nylon chains, covers, and other components facing extensive downtime on its 14 machines. Consistent use of a purging compound, however, reportedly reduced downtime and purging costs. Paragon Molding Ltd. applied the Dyna-Purge product from Shuman Plastics to clean out its Van Dorn, Arburg, and Cincinnati Milacron molding machines, with barrel capacities ranging from 1.5 to 27 oz.

Prior to using Dyna-Purge, the company used acrylic, styrene, or glass-filled ABS. In some cases, a mixture of acrylic regrind, laundry detergent, and water was used, taking 70 minutes and costing approximately $74. With Dyna-Purge M, purging takes 30 minutes, cutting downtime by 57% at a cost of about $32. For additional purging compound information, visit www.dynapurge.com.

THAT'S A WRAP

Spotting a bottleneck in its wrapping process, a custom injection molder adopted automation that allows a fork-truck operator to drop a load on a wrapping table and pull a lanyard while in the driver?s seat, which begins a wrapping process that automatically reads the load height, adjusts the film overlap, cuts and adheres the film, discharges the finished load, and takes on the next pallet.

The Q-300XTPlus stretch-wrap machine from Lantech starts film automatically by holding it against the pallet load and then cuts it and wipes down on completion. Leitchfield Plastics, a division of Jones Plastic & Engineering in Jeffersontown, KY, added the machine to its plant, which runs 20 presses ranging from 200 to 2000 tons, producing components for the appliance industry. As finished parts are packed into cartons or bins, they?re palletized in loads from 3- to 10-ft high. In the past, production delays at the wrapping station, which was located between shipping and molding, occurred when fork-truck drivers in the molding area waited for drivers in the shipping area to take away wrapped pallets.

For more information on the wrapping machine, contact Lantech at www.lantech.com.

COMPOSTABLE WATER BOTTLES BLOWMOLDED

Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. has teamed with Cargill and SIG Corpoplast to create a compostable water bottle molded from corn-based Natureworks PLA. Created for BIOTA Brands of America?s premium line of Colorado spring water, the bottles? 12-oz and 1-liter preforms are made with a 24-cavity HyPET 120 system. The HyPET reportedly provides fast cycles, low mold wear, good repeatability, low acetaldehyde generation, and good energy efficiency. The bottles are stretch blowmolded on a Blomax-10, 10-cavity machine from SIG Corpoplast. For more information please visit www.husky.ca.

THERMOFORMING THIN TPEs

A TPE has been paired with a new thermoforming process to create containers with width-to-depth ratios as high as 1:4, forming walls as thin as .002 inch. PBM Plastics used Riteflex TPE from Ticona to form sheet into liners with widths and depths of 1 by 4, 4 by 2, and 4 by 4 inches.

PBM?s patented Melt-Phase Forming process allows deeper draws and thinner walls by combining elements of thermoforming, injection molding, and blowmolding in a high-volume process. Billets are punched from sheet in staggered patterns for a scrap rate of 10% to 15% versus the 40% to 50% rates found in roll-fed systems, and since the polymer is drawn at or near its melt temperature, the containers have nearly no inherent stress, and they resist distortion when reheated. Ticona and PBM hope to draw the products out further for seamless liners and bladders with thickness of .0005- to .0008-inch and 1:6 ratios, which would create hydrocarbon barrier properties, flexibility, and durability.

Applications could include bladders for holding paints, sealants, adhesives, and other viscous liquids that collapse as they?re emptied. For more about Riteflex from Ticona go to www.ticona.com, and for more about Melt-Phase Forming, go to www.pbmplastics.com.

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