When you think about it, two-shot molding is actually a misnomer. How so? Well, for one thing, this plastic injection molding process utilizes a four-cavity mold, which is mounted on a rotary platen. This allows a 180° rotation of the core side of the mold which positions the first-shot core into alignment with the second…
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Like cats and dogs, the production manager and the maintenance manager constantly feud for machine time in many plastic injection molding plants. Unfortunately, production usually wins because it generates revenue and maintenance is considered overhead. Routine maintenance on molding machines is sacrificed on the altar of profit. Of course, if maintenance is delayed too long… well, you know…
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Europe has always been a trend-setter when it comes to all things “green,” environmentally-speaking. So news that the consumption of biodegradable and compost-able plastic products in Europe is expected to increase 300% from 2015 to 2020 should be taken very seriously indeed by the plastic powers-that-be stateside. While plastic recycling is regarded as the height…
Filed Under:Plastic food packaging , Uncategorized
A long, long time ago (OK, not that long ago, really — 2001), our CEO, Al Zoller, bought the company that he would eventually rename AdvanTech four years later. The company’s original building, home to the former Plasticraft tool shop, covers 27,000 ft. and is more than 70 years old. Over the years, it’s been upgraded…
Filed Under:Plastic Caps and Closures , Uncategorized
Manufacturing is all about reducing complexity. After all, if you can remove a step from the process, wouldn’t that save time and (of course) money? The big question is, (also, of course)”how”? Enter “in-mold labeling,” which is the process of applying labels to plastic-injection molded products like containers or bottles during the manufacturing process. In-mold labeling,…
Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Methods , Uncategorized
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, cars were made out of three materials: metal, metal and more metal. OK, that’s something of a hyperbole but not much — automobiles of the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s were renowned for their lavish use of sheet metal — “acres and acres” of it, as…
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They are the perfect employee: fast, productive and salary-free. And they never need to take a break (unless they break!) Of course, we’re talking robots. And, while they aren’t new to plastic injection molding, they’re certainly getting more and more ink. For good reason. But first, a little robotic history… Cartesian or linear robots, sometimes…
Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Equipment , Uncategorized
It’s simple, really: the primary purpose of feed rate control in regard to plastic injection molding is to achieve consistently accurate proportions of recipe components (resin and required additives) prior to pelletization (in compounding) or end-product manufacturing. Enter feeders: feeders produce a precise and controllable discharge rate for the material they are designed to work…
Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Equipment , Uncategorized
It had to happen sooner or later. We’re talking about fiber optics vs. thermocouples: which sensor is better at monitoring melt-temperature during the injection molding process? For years, the all-important melt-temperature monitoring process was strictly a thermocouple thing. But leave it to a Chicagoland vendor (Okay, Futaba of Japan … but they’ve been in Schaumburg…
Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Methods , Uncategorized
Twenty years is a long time in the plastic injection molding industry. Even thought the internet age had already dawned in the ’90s, a shop floor manager working in that era would most likely have been still twisting knobs and staring at analog dials. Operators still consulted printed instructions to set up equipment by hand. Pneumatically driven…
Filed Under:Plastic Injection Molding Equipment , Uncategorized