Injection Molding: At NPE, U.S. Debut of Arburg’s Largest Machine Yet in a Brand-New Design

Arburg’s “big reveal” at K 2016 is now coming to NPE2018 as the U.S. launch of its largest machine ever and the first of a brand-new design with a sophisticated new control. The Allrounder 1120H (photo) has a 650-metric-ton clamp (730 U.S. tons, 30% larger than any previous Arburg machine) with 1120 mm tiebar spacing (20% larger than other Allrounders) and 1050 mm stroke. Dry-cycle time is 2.4 sec. This hybrid press has an electric toggle clamp powered by twin servos, plus servo-hydraulic injection with a gas accumulator. Electric ejection is standard, with hydraulic optional. The sleek new design encloses all electric, hydraulic, pneumatic, lubrication, and temperature-control systems within the machine frame. Safety gates and injection unit run on linear guides. Integrated fold-out steps provide access to the mold area.

Its new Gestica controller has a pivoting and height-adjustable operator panel with a smooth glass front that resembles a tablet computer and accepts multitouch/gesture commands. The 15.6-in., full-HD screen has a new EASYslider element that allows fingertip dynamic control of machine movements during setup. Motions can be speeded up or slowed down with the swipe of a finger on the on-screen bar. (A second machine of this new design with the Gestica controller is the 500-m.t. Allrounder 920H, which arrived at Fakuma 2017.)

The Allrounder 1120H will be molding a PP folding step stool, molded in an eight-cavity family mold and snapped together in an adjoining cell with a pair of six-axis robots. The parts will be demolded by a Multilift V Cartesian robot with 88-lb payload capacity (also introduced at K 2016).

Arburg (U.S. office in Rocky Hill, Conn.) will have a total of nine exhibits at NPE (booth W1325). Among the others will be:

• An electric Allrounder 570A producing wrist straps in LSR with two colors and durometers (70 and 30 Shore A), and assembling complete watch in a robotic cell.

• A dual-durometer LSR/LSR (70 and 30 Shore A) membrane for valves used in medical and automotive applications will be molded on an Allrounder 270A with a 0.1-oz micro-injection unit incorporating a 0.3-in. screw to produce one 0.0018-oz component, which is then overmolded using a servo-electric injector from Kipe Molds, Placentia, Calif. (kipemolds.com), which is integrated into the 1 + 1 cavity mold and the Selogica control system.

• A packaging version of the Allrounder 570H designed specifically for thin-wall molding, will produce four IML tubs from PP in a cycle time around 1.9 sec. The finished parts weigh 0.12 oz and have walls 0.0126 in. thick.

• In another cell, an electric Allrounder 470 A will mold two cups of medical-grade PP, each weighing just over 0.05 oz, in a cycle of 2.9 sec.

• For automotive, long-glass reinforced airbag housings will be molded with “fiber direct compounding” (FDC), whereby continuous glass rovings are fed into the injection barrel downstream of the feed opening. A side feeder with integrated cutter and a special screw and barrel permit customizing the fiber length and concentration. A weight monitor will display the consistency of shot weight.

• Insert encapsulation will be shown on a vertical rotary-table machine. Metal inserts will be fed to a plasma pretreatment station before overmolding with nylon 66.

• In what has become a trademark exhibit for Arburg at major shows, Industry 4.0 networking capability will be demonstrated by molding individualized business-card holders and then barcode labeling them by laser marking, followed by custom decorating with Arburg’s Freeformer 3D printer.

• Another Freeformer exhibit will show that these machines now process not only amorphous resins like ABS, PC, and nylon 12, but also TPE and semi-crystalline materials like PP and PLA.