Ewikon now offering full range of auxiliaries from Main Tech of Italy.

Tooling innovations at NPE focused primarily on multi-cavity closure and medical applications, though there was also a substantial emphasis on large automotive and appliance parts.

There will be an extraordinary range of new auxiliary equipment on display at the show.

Most of the emphasis is on valve gating and on doing more in less space. Other highlights include standardized mold components, some impressive feats of moldmaking creativity, and advances in mold simulation.

Wemo Automation AB, the Swedish manufacturer of servo-driven linear and swing-arm robots, has appointed Ewikon Molding Technologies Inc., Rockford, Ill., as the exclusive independent distributor and technical-service center for Wemo in the U.S. and Canada.

At the world’s largest plastics show in Dusseldorf last fall, hot-runner and controller manufacturers introduced a flood of new developments in speed, size, accuracy, and reliability.

If a better machine can help your company beat challenging economic conditions, you’ll probably find it at NPE. And finding it will be easier, thanks to our editors’ efforts to sift out of some 2000 exhibits the most significant news in injection and blow molding, extrusion, compounding, and thermoforming.

A hot-runner nozzle for direct side gating of multiple long, slim, or tube-shaped parts is new from Ewikon Molding Technologies Inc., East Dundee, Ill.

The accepted ground rule for balancing melt flow in multi-cavity injection molds is to achieve equal flow distance from the injection point to each cavity.

German hot-runner systems maker Ewikon Heisskanalsysteme GmbH has appointed Ewikon Molding Technologies, Inc., East Dundee, Ill., to be its exclusive independent distributor and service center for North America.

A drop-in hot-runner system for smaller molds and tips for direct gating were introduced at the K 2007 show in Dusseldorf by the German parent of Ewikon HotRunner Systems of America, East Dundee, Ill.

A valve gate for side gating in packaging or medical applications is new from Ewikon Hotrunner Systems of America Inc., East Dundee, Ill.

Electrically driven valve pins, a low-cost alternative to valve-gating, mold-mounted temperature controllers, and new components for fast color changes are some of a host of new components and systems unveiled at the giant NPE 2006 show in Chicago this past June. (Some brand-new introductions since the show are also included in this report.) The news includes runnerless products aimed at everything from micromolding to shot weights up to 17.4 lb.

Thermal and mechanical testers, color and appearance sensors, vision inspection devices and CMMs—the NPE had them all in more compact, economical, and easy-to-use models.

Energy-saving all-electric machines will continue to be a big draw at NPE, where new designs or upgraded models will be found in virtually every press maker’s booth.

Closer cavity spacing, in-press serviceability, improved valve gates, smarter controls, quick-ship standard manifolds, and Internet e-commerce were leading themes in hot runners at the big show in Chicago.Hot-runner components were one of the largest categories of injection molding products exhibited at the triennial NPE show in June.

Sophisticated hot-runner temperature controls introduced at the NPE show in Chicago store set-up data right on the mold, detect (and even fix) thermocouple wiring mistakes, and employ easier-to-use icon-based displays.