Mold-Masters (Brampton, ON, Canada), a business unit of Milacron, introduced its Summit Series hot runner for premium applications. The stainless-steel hot-runner system runs with four times less thermal variation from set point, compared with the typical thermal variation seen in a nozzle with a heater band, the company claims. With less than 5% temperature variation, this nozzle series is suited for molding shear and temperature-sensitive resins like PC, POM and PBT. The nozzle profile is especially effective for medical molding, where precision is tantamount. New valve gating methods using servo-controlled actuators bring top-of-the-line performance to the hot-runner market.
Milacron (Cincinnati, OH) also announced its enhanced Fusion G2 series for automotive and large-part molding. An extended nozzle length range provides more flexibility for customers, while the new valve pin open speed control and position monitoring option enables more control over resin flow and the molding process, resulting in an improved surface finish. Additional new gate seal options enable handling of new and challenging resins.
For molders who want to see details about their molds that have never been possible before, there is SmartMold technology: Contactless wet cycle counting, uptime and cycle time sensing, over pressurization, over temperature, over tonnage and abuse of the mold can be easily sensed and recorded to ensure that the mold is running as intended. All of this is possible without the need for clumsy and invasive parting line sensors, pressure transducers, wiring or thermocouples. The collected data is seamlessly transferred to production monitoring systems.
Users can interface with SmartMold via a compact, multi-touch screen mounted directly on the mold or via a smartphone using a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection. Customers can now locate their molds anywhere in the world, and SmartMold will automatically notify the user and supplier of the pending need for parts or service. SmartMold opens the door to a world of possibilities never before seen in injection molding, claims Milacron
