Really Big Machines Dominate Milacron Booth

Jaw-droppingly large injection machines are one unmistakable theme at the Milacron booth this year. Impossible to miss is a brand-new Cincinnati 2250-tonner that Milacron says is the largest-tonnage injection machine ever run at an NPE show. Aimed at automotive, appliance, and other large-part markets, this “beast” as Milacron calls it, has been sold to i2-tech Custom Injection Molders in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The servo-hydraulic two-platen press has five Fanuc servomotors controlling five gear pumps for improved reliability, expanded multicomponent capability, higher maximum mold weights, and faster clamp speeds. An improved machine layout and enhanced access to the ejector and mold areas are said to make maintenance easier. It is molding a large ATV side-by-side dashboard weighing 10.5 lb, handled by a Sepro six-axis robot.

Another big thing in the Milacron booth is the massive platen for a 6600 Cincinnati machine the firm is building for 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics in Holiday City, Ohio.

Milacron also is running the largest tonnage Milacron-Fanuc Roboshot all-electric machine ever offered in the Americas. The Roboshot 450 (500 U.S. tons) has tiebar spacing of 36.2 in. It’s molding a detergent cap in 24 cavities on 6-sec cycle.

Another sizeable machine at Milacron’s booth is the Maxima Performance 600wp, two-platen press, which is demonstrating Milacron’s “Core Back/Reverse Coining” process with MuCell microcellular foaming from Trexel and rapid heat/cool molding with Roctool’s induction-heating technology to achieve a Class A surface on an automotive door panel map pocket.