Automation suppliers partner for post-processing

A recent agreement with FANUC Robotics North America expands Conair’s automation capabilities to include complex downstream processing operations such as degating, trimming, palletizing, adhesive application and assembly.

Conair already has a broad line of equipment for handling injection molded parts, but the Integrator Agreement “means Conair can now engineer and deliver solutions to virtually any automation application, from insert loading to finished product packaging, and everything in between,” says Jim Healy, Conair Automation Product Manager.

FANUC Robotics offers an extensive product line of articulated-arm, AC servo-driven robots.

Stephen Sales Group

905/940-5577

Instrumented impact tester gives more data

A strain gauge is fitted to the striker of Tinius Olsen’s new Instrumented Impact Testing System in order to accurately measure the applied force.

Data is automatically collected upon contact with the specimen, and saved in the database of Windows-based software. The system is designed for Tinius Olsen’s Model 84 and Model 92T.

Instrumented impact systems directly measure the force applied to a specimen during impact and determine the energy absorbed by the specimen. The data can be interpreted to determine peak load and yield point for plastics. Other advantages include increased testing accuracy, increased efficiency and a permanent record of the test in the database.

Tinius Olsen Testing Machine Co. Inc. 215/675-7100

Barrels show minimal wear from hostile materials

Inductametals presents two high-performance barrel lines – the Ultramax barrel for extreme abrasion and the IDM-260 for severe corrosion. The company reports the barrels are extremely wear-resistant in the face of the abrasion from 30 to 65 percent glass-filled resins, or the corrosive attack of fluoropolymer.

Extended barrel life means savings in barrel replacement costs, but also benefits productivity. Inductametals cites several studies that show substantial declines in throughput and part quality as wear increases the barrel/screw clearance.

Both types of barrels are available for injection molding or extrusion.

Delplace Ltee 514/485-7780

Hand-held unit measures color and gloss

The first hand-held, portable spectrophotometer to measure both color and appearance simultaneously is GretagMacbeth’s ColorEye XTH. The company has added gloss measurement capability to the ColorEye unit.

“Since many of our customers need to measure both gloss and color, the ColorEye XTH lets them obtain color and correlated 60 degree gloss from a single measurement and a single instrument,” says Mike Beering, product manager.

“A slight difference in surface characteristics can be perceived visually as a bad color match when the real culprit is the gloss level,” notes Beering.

Prism Instruments 905/428-9805

Horizontal part removal offered

Arburg displayed at the European Fakuma exhibition horizontal part removal systems that are offered on all sizes of its injection molding machines.

Horizontal systems remove from the rear side of the machine, have less impact on the height of the entire machine configuration, and do not interfere with inserting molds from the top. The horizontal arrangement also provides shorter intervention paths for additional stability and speed.

Pneumatic and servo-electric units are available.

Hamilton Avtec Inc. 800/590-5546