Blow Molding: 14 large bottles at a time

SIG Blowtec has delivered its first BlowPac 4 blow molding machine designed for production of 14 cavities at once. The machine will be used by Huber Verpackungen of Germany to produce one-litre HDPE bottles for non-food applications.

Until this point, reports SIG Blowtec, production with such a large number of cavities had been limited to smaller parts.

With a cycle time of about 14 seconds, Huber produces approximately 3600 bottles per hour from the 14-cavity mold. A special feature of this blow molding machine is servo-driven demolding with an integrated leak tester with seven test heads. In each cycle, each of the test heads must perform tests on two bottles.

BlowPac 4 series machines also use an interlocking mask to transport the molded parts to the deflashing station. This improves the fixing of the bottles during deflashing and improves dimensional stability.

SIG Plastics Technologies Canada Inc. 905-828-0044

Retrofit gauge control cuts variation 50%

Macro Engineering’s Accupro AD automatic gauge control system employs cartridge heaters on the outer die lip to make small temperature adjustments to adjust gauge deviation. It is targeted for processors of high quality printing, laminating and barrier films.

Sample produced on Macro’s pilot line retrofitted with the Accupro AD system had gauge variaton between +/- 2.5% to +/- 3% within three sigma, or +/- 2% within 2 sigma.

The system consists of an NDC gamma backscatter gauge, and NDC Auto Profile control system, a Macro Scanner oscillating ring and a Macro die equipped with heaters.

When the system notices a deviation, small temperature adjustments are made to the corresponding area on the die.

Macro Engineering & Technology Inc. 905-507-9000