Heat/Cool Molding Gets A Workout at Fakuma 2017

KraussMaffei (U.S. office in Florence, Ky.) will show off its new collaboration with RocTool (U.S. office in Charlotte, N.C.) at the Fakuma 2017 fair this month in Friedrichshafen, Germany (see last month’s Starting Up). It will demonstrate extremely fine mold-surface replication and the wide range of decorative effects possible without secondary processes, using Roctool’s “HD Plastics” technology for heat/cool molding with induction heating. At the show, KraussMaffei will mold 16 different surface effects—ranging from high gloss to matte, color shading, and hologram effects—in one 16-cavity mold.

That mold will run in a two-platen, servo-hydraulic CX-200 (200 metric tons) press, a size introduced at the K 2016 show in Dusseldorf (see Sept. ’16 show preview). Other highlights of KraussMaffei’s Fakuma 2017 exhibit will include two versions of its highly modular PX all-electric series, also introduced at K 2016 (see Jan. ’17 show report). One 160-m.t. model will be configured with faster injection and ejection, plus higher torque and faster nozzle movement for high-speed, thin-wall packaging (snap-on, flip-top PP closures). It will also have the new LRX 100 linear robot (see May ’17 Keeping Up).

A second CX press will be a 55-m.t. SilcoSet model outfitted for high-precision LSR (Fresnel lenses with micro-fine surface structure). That press will demonstrate the APC plus control software (new at K 2016), which uses stored material data to assist in achieving uniform part weight. The software monitors the viscosity of the material—commonly subject to batch variations in LSR—and corrects the filling volume within the same shot. APC plus is even said to compensate for any potential preliminary crosslinking of the silicone.