best practices
MATERIALS: Analysis Gone Wrong
A lot of resources are devoted each year to trying to figure out why products fail. Sometimes it’s because no one involved in a project realizes the data provided was wrong.
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How to Split & Clean Flat Dies
Notice a drop-off in quality of your flat film or sheet? It may signal that a die ‘split-and-clean’ is due. Here’s how to get going.
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Molder Strives to Align People, Processes, Technology
Wisconsin Plastics’ ‘transformation’ takes into account all aspects of its business, with the help of its machinery sales rep.
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BOPP Processor Focuses on Specialties
At one time, BI-AX International produced millions of pounds of BOPP film a year for a wide range of commodity products. But it has since transitioned toward higher-value niche products for medical and packaging.
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Fixing Hot-Runner Filling Imbalances: Take a Systematic Approach
Jumping right in to try to make a fix without a methodical troubleshooting approach is apt to waste a lot of time and perhaps even make things worse. There is a better way.
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Put the Brakes on Resin Conveying Speed to Minimize System Maintenance
Here’s how to manage pneumatic conveying speeds to extend equipment life and reduce material waste in your plant.
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TOOLING: Designing the Tool for the Material
To design a mold for the widest processing window and the fewest problems, start by considering the conditions imposed by the material being run.
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EXTRUSION: About Your ‘General-Purpose’ Dies
There is no such thing. While dies can be adjusted to provide some flexibility, the fact is they are optimized for one specific output of one particular polymer.
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INJECTION MOLDING: Another Way to Deal with Regrind
You can run into a lot of problems molding parts from a blend of regrind and virgin material. Might you be better off using 100% regrind?
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The Mystery Of Physical Aging, Part 3: Accelerated Aging Tests
Accelerated aging tests relied on by industries such as medical take into account only chemical aging—oxidation—and ignore physical aging.
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