All-Electric Shuttle Debut at NPE

R&B Plastics Machinery is launching its newest all-electric shuttle blow molder at NPE2024. Model RBS-E550D is a double-sided machine with 18-ton clamp and 550-mm stroke. It can be equipped with one to six parisons for containers from 200 ml to 5 L.

The unit on display is running a W. Muller 2 × 250-mm (center distance) trilayer die head with individual servo-electric wall-thickness controls. The machine is also demonstrating W. Muller’s new WM-096 manual screen changer. The main extruder is a 100-mm. 26:1 model designed for processing PE regrind. The satellite extruders for inner and outer layers are 70 mm, 24:1.

The machine has a heavy-walled steel-tube and steel-plate frame with “walk-in” molding area and top-of-machine access platforms for maintenance and mold changes. This is the first R&B shuttle equipped with Yaskawa X absolute servomotors and drives, which offer “some of the fastest and smoothest machine motions available in the industry,” according to R&B.

This new model also provides in-machine deflashing with “center-of-machine” scrap removal, which keeps the conveyor behind the clamp stations and enables for more open area to perform maintenance and mold changes. The in-machine servo-electric part takeout system includes a “center-of-machine” takeaway conveyor for a single-point container exit.

Servo-electric calibration stations with self-adjusting height compensation enable consistent shear-ring cutting. Controls are based on a Siemens IPC477ED industrial PC with 15-in. touchscreen. Remote machine access for technical support is also provided.