Published 7/1/2000

NPE Offered Extensive Line-Up Of New Granulators & Shredders

While most of the new granulators shown at NPE 2000 last month were beside-the-press models, there was also an accent on larger units with an appetite for tough hunks of large-diameter PVC pipe, bundles of textile fibers, and wads of molten bottle flash. Many are configured for “difficult” resins from engineering types to soft TP elastomers.

Jan H. Schut

Hogs and big-mouths

Several new central granulators have extra-wide mouths to accept large parts, pipe, blow molding flash, and bulk film. Cumberland Engineering Corp., South Attleboro, Mass., introduced the biggest granulator at NPE, its Model 3263 with 32 x 63 in. feed opening. It stands 15 ft tall and has a hydraulic tilting hopper and screen cradle. The 12-knife open rotor is designed for bulky hollow parts. For heavy solid parts, there’s a “hog” version with 30 staggered knives. Cumberland’s new 3200 series comes in two additional sizes: 32 x 42 and 32 x 84 in.

Hosokawa Alpine in Germany is introducing its line of central granulators to North America. These consist of 25 machines in three product categories, which will be distributed here by sister company Hosokawa Polymer Systems in Berlin, Conn. The first group, Alpine’s Rotoplex Series are heavy-duty granulators for film and purgings. Alpine is now building what it claims will be the world’s largest granulator, with a 36 x 118 in. chamber, 36-in. cutting circle, and dual 300-hp drives. It has seven rows of rotating knives and 10 bed knives for a throughput of more than 10,000 lb/hr of BOPP film.

Second, Alpine’s CL Series granulates hollow bottles and containers. Third, its AFS Fine Grinding Mills produce dryblendable powder from PVC pipe and profiles.

Hosokawa Polymer Systems also showed its own heavy-duty Model 1626 granulator, with a new roll feeder larger than any it has built before. The feed rolls are up to 48 in. wide to pull in heavy sheet and carpet runner scrap.

New Herbold Inc., Sutton, Mass., introduced to the U.S. two versions of its German-built pipe and profile granulators. Three models in the LP Series can swallow 20-ft lengths of PVC profiles and thin-walled pipe. Five models in the SR Series handle HDPE pipe up to 3-in. thick, 36-in. diam., and 22-ft long. The latter have a multi-bladed, solid rotor.

Rapid Granulator Inc., Rockford, Ill., also showed one of its largest units. The new model 3250 in its 80 Series of central granulators, achieves a “constant cutting circle” with its three-bladed rotor. Also new is a heavy-duty granulator, Model 2436 C/K, for bulky parts and purgings. A three-bladed rotor and two bed knives are standard.

Conair in Pittsburgh showed a new and bigger CG Series granulator. Model CG 1436 has tangential feed and 1 ft wider cutting chamber than previous CG units.

Among first-time exhibitors at NPE was Getecha GmbH from Germany, represented in the U.S. by newly established Getecha Inc. in Kalamazoo, Mich. Getecha showed its new U.S.-built ARG series. They are said to be “unjammable.”

Cresswood Recycling Systems in Cortland, Ill., introduced a large, low-rpm grinder called the SaberCat. It has a 53 x 40 in. cutting chamber and 50 hp.

Other new central granulators at the show included the WO series from Rotogran International Inc., Concord, Ont.

Small grinders bite hard

Several suppliers brought out new two-step granulators for thick or hard-to-grind scrap. Conair introduced a larger two-stage SPC “Dagger” granulator, designed to produce high-quality regrind from hard, brittle engineering resins. The SPC 750 grinds 30 lb/hr of sprues and runners in a 10 x 10 in. cutting chamber. It runs quieter and at lower rotor speed than previous models.

Maguire Products Inc., Aston, Pa., brought a new smaller model of its novel two-stage Shuttle Granulator for large purgings and thick scrap. Model S-20 has a 20 x 30 in. chamber. It holds scrap in a traveling hopper that shuttles back and forth over a table in which a rotor with staggered knives is embedded. The rotor shaves off slices of scrap at each pass of the shuttle, analogous to a wood planer. The slices fall into a small Maguire tilt-rotor granulator for the final cut.

Nissui Corp., East Lansing, Mich., introduced a new three-axle version of its S-Cutter two-stage grinder that’s said to handle softer materials as well as rigids. New model S3-XXX uses only 0.5-2 hp on each of three drives and has even lower rpm than previous models. Blade configuration is also different to accommodate soft resins. Previous S-Cutters had two large S-shaped blades to make initial cuts. The new version has lots of small “S” blades interspersed with other blades.

Weima Maschinenbau GmbH in Germany (represented by Cutter Corp., East Lansing, Mich.) ran a two-stage system at NPE consisting of a small single-rotor shredder and a granulator. This was the first U.S. showing of the granulator. It is designed to take shredded feedstock, not whole parts.

Size Reduction Specialists Corp., East Lansing, Mich., launched a series of low-speed, two-stage, screenless granulators with drives from 0.5 to 2 hp. The Bi-Cutter’s first stage has S-shaped breaker blades, followed by a conventional granulator. Also new is a two-stage Tri-Cutter screenless granulator/shredder. The first stage has two counter-rotating rotors with hooked knives to shred runners, bottles, or thin-walled parts. The second stage is a normal granulator.

The newest grinder from Foremost Machine Builders in Fairfield, N.J., is a model DSC (dual-stage cutter) for PET preform scrap. It has a 20 x 36 in. upper rotor armed with 48 chipper knives. Chips fall into a conventional second-stage grinder with two 50-hp motors. Waste PET bottles can also be added directly to the second stage.

Also new from Foremost is a heavy-duty scrap granulator with a new chilled cutting chamber. It also has a new rotor design, new sound enclosure, and much lower rpm for reduced dust and noise. The model shown at NPE, HD5CSQ, is tailored especially for HDPE bottle flash. Warm flash often creates a dust problem because it smears over the insides of the grinder. Bits later fall off and are ground to dust. To reduce smearing, the cutting angle between the blades and bed knife is steeper, contact with the bed knives is higher, and the gap between the single rotor and chamber wall is wider. Speed is reduced from 700 rpm to 438 rpm, and the chamber is cooled with chilled-water passages.

Rapid has a new small and compact Model 69 SR-A granulator. It fits beside or beneath the press to grind sprues and runners at 110 lb/hr.

Hosokawa Polymer Systems came out with its largest slow-speed granulator to date, which runs at 200 rpm with a 4-hp drive. Model SS167 has a 16 x 17 in. chamber.

Herbold Zerkleinerungstechnik GmbH of Germany (represented by Resource Recycling Systems Inc., Smithfield, R.I.) brought to the show a much smaller granulator than it has offered here before. Model SML 35/42-S3/2-2 has a 13.7 x 16.5 in. cutting chamber and 15-hp motor. It cuts with two rotor and two bed knives.

Getecha introduced its HRG (Horizontal Rotor Granulator) series for beside-the-press use. They stand only 29 in. high.

Some Cumberland granulators offer new options for grinding specific materials. A five-knife rotor for film and fiber scrap is new on the Model 1628. A three-knife “open scooped” rotor is new on Model 7 x 12. It pulls bulky parts into the cutting chamber and also helps cool heat-sensitive resins.

Atlanta-based Upstream Systems & Machinery (a new joint venture of Barron Inc. in Atlanta and TSM Control Systems in Ireland) showed the first granulators it has built in-house. (Barron had sold private-labeled granulators before.) The new line at NPE had a rotor with three blades plus two bed knives. It comes in two sizes—one for edge trim and one for purgings.

New Herbold is now distributing beside-the-press granulators from Wanner Technik GmbH of Germany, which are new to North America. They include a C Series with conveyor feeding of sprues and runners and a split cutting chamber designed for easy cleaning. There is also a manually fed D Series with up to 10 x 15 in. cutting chambers and motors up to 10 hp.

Exact SrL in Italy (represented by Ital-Plast Machinery, Thornhill, Ont.) introduced its Evolution 10 granulator for reclaiming film edge trim, either in-line or from rolls.

Colortronic Inc. in Runnemede, N.J. showed the model M-75 in its new low-speed granulator line for injection molders.

AEC/Nelmor, South Attleboro, Mass., launched its new Marathon series of beside-the-press granulators for injection molding. They have an unusual side-entry cleanout door and come in four sizes from 5 to 500 lb/hr, with a choice of rotors, blades, chutes, and manual or robotic feeding.

A side cleanout door is also featured on the new Maverick MVP series of beside-the-press granulators from Ball & Jewell Div. of Sterling Inc. (a sister company of AEC/Nelmor), also in South Attleboro, Mass. Size range is 5 to 500 lb/hr.

A new PS foam grinder from Commodore Machine Co., Bloomsfield, N.Y., has feed rolls with sensors to monitor load and prevent jamming. It comes in widths of 30-40 in. and throughput up to 300 lb/hr.

From Asia came several more granulators not commonly seen in the U.S.:

Highfield in China (distributed by CBCL Inc., Great Falls, S.C.) makes granulators from 5 to 150 hp and pulverizers from 15 to 31 in. diam.
Harmo-Soken from Nagano, Japan, introduced an S-Series granulator designed for soft elastomeric scrap.
Castin Industrial Trading Ltd. in Hong Kong offers a mobile granulator on casters.

News in shredding

Holzmag AG of Switzerland began making small shredder/granulators in Canada this spring. They are sold here by Expon-Holzmag in Vancouver, B.C. A model 300-1400 was shown at NPE. It has PLC control and a 12-in.-diam. rotor that turns at 200 rpm in a 52-in.-wide cutting chamber. Rotors have a new patented cutting method for fibers and thin film. The12-sided, solid-steel rotor has cutting blocks that “punch” rather than shear the plastic. The blocks have straight, stepped, or V-shaped profiles, depending on the type of plastic and desired granulate size. Holzmag also offers automated de-coring of film rolls before feeding them to the shredder/granulator.

Maschinenfabrik Lindner GmbH of Austria (represented by Blades Machinery, Elk Grove, Ill.) showed its new “Monofix” cutter system for its shredders. The cutter is attached to the rotor with one screw to permit easy rotation of four cutting edges. A pusher system feeds material without bridging or jamming, Lindner says. The first four Lindner shredders being installed in the U.S. also have computer-controlled operation that is adjustable by modem.

Whereas most shredders have two rotors that turn at different speeds, several companies launched new single-rotor shredders at the show. Vecoplan Maschinenfabrik GmbH of Germany, represented by Nordfab Systems Inc., Thomasville, N.C., introduced a single-rotor, low-speed Vortex unit that combines shredding and granulating of large scrap like pipe in one step.

Shred-Tech of Cambridge, Ont., launched a whole new line of single-rotor shredders. (The company previously built only dual-rotor types.) It’s new STS Series nibbles purgings and large parts into 0.5-in. chips at 90 rpm (three to four times the speed of a dual-shaft shredder). Output range is 500 to 8000 lb/hr.

Granutech-Saturn Systems of Grand Prairie, Texas, also added a new single-rotor model to its line of dual-rotor shredders.

Re Tech Industries Inc., High Point, N.C., brought to the show some newer sizes of its single-shaft “rotary grinder,” Models RG23, RG62, and RG 52.

Size Reduction Specialists introduced a very small single-rotor shredder/granulator for beside-the-press use. Model XM has a 12-in.-diam. rotor, one stationary bed knife, and a screen. It reduces large parts and purgings to 3/8-in. flake in one pass. Motors of 5-20 hp turn the rotor at 70 rpm. Sizes run to 48 in. wide.

Eurohansa Inc., High Point, N.C., showed a new single-rotor shredder with interchangeable cutters that can be resharpened two or three times. The Zeno ZTLP shredder offers throughputs from 1000 to 10,000 lb/hr at a speed of 120 rpm.

Knives Wear Longer

Among new developments in granulator knives at NPE, Great Lakes Industrial Knife Co. of Akron, Ohio, introduced the ICE (Inlaid Carbide Extreme) blade to provide very high wear resistance.

Conair of Pittsburgh provided longer knife life in a different manner: New resharpenable cassette knife tips for its JC and LP granulator series replace the previous disposable cassette knives. The new tips can be sharpened up to five times using a special fixture.