British Plastics & Rubber articles from January 2003

British Plastics & Rubber archives from January 2003

PET flake-to-film sparks innovation. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... THE worldwide acceleration in both the requirement and the ability to reclaim PET bottles from the waste stream is providing an incentive to invest in technology for reprocessing. In Europe, according to recycling organization Petcore, year on...

Blown film from 100 per cent reclaimed PE. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... A blown film system designed to work with up to 100 per cent regenerated polyethylene has been demonstrated in Italy by Dolci Extrusion. As well as enabling reclaimed material to be processed, the Extruboost system is said to reduce energy...

Car carpet line can reprocess its own scrap. (Film & Sheet Production).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... A TURNKEY plant for making thermoformable car carpeting sheet from a variety of materials, including 100 per cent scrap with the moquette applied in-line has been delivered by Bandera to a German automotive supplier. There are more than 15...

Coping with the vagaries of edge trim. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... THE wide variation in gauge and trim edge width set a challenge for an edge trim reclaim line installed recently by Tria. It was fitted on an OPS film line producing film at 3,300 kg/hr with line speeds of 22 to 150 m/min. Sheet thickness...

Two extruders better than one when it comes to foam cooling. (Film & Sheet Production).(SMS Folientechnik)
January 1, 2003... A FOAMED sheet extrusion process currently awaiting patent approval for SMS Folientechnik aims to meet demands for high output without the drop in quality that can result from some approaches. The cooling of the melt is a potential...

New range of cast film lines. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... Italian-based Polytech has introduced new range of mono and coex cast film extrusion lines and the first line for PP film has just been delivered to a major converter whose business is mainly in the production of quality metallized packaging...

Biggest UK order for Macchi. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... MACCHI of Italy is in the process of fulfilling its biggest ever single order from a UK customer -- whose name remains a secret--for four large fully automatic/robotized coextrusion lines, being installed alongside three others delivered in the...

'No degradation' on slide-plate screen changer. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... AN improved continuous flow screen changer from Industrial Plastics is targeted at the extrusion of film and sheet. It is a slide-plate type device in which the melt is divided to flow through both slide plates, each of which is fitted with...

Snug fit sleeves offer product growth. (Film & Sheet Production).(shrink film consumption data)
January 1, 2003... SHRINKABLE sleeves for labelling containers of increasingly complex shape are rapidly expanding business. According to Eastman Chemical the global shrink film market in 2001 was around 60,000 tonnes, and is set for a compounded annual growth...

Smaller slit widths and easier setting. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... Caption: The new Dienes Model 202 08 546.5 knife holder has directly driven top knives and reduced overall width to allow smaller slit widths when the system is equipped with several holders. It is not necessary, as formerly, to move the...

Film additive improves plant growth. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... A NEW photoselective additive for plastic agricultural covers that can help improve crop quality and productivity has been introduced by Ciba Specialty Chemicals. Smartlight RL 1000 is a red luminescent additive which shifts light from the...

BPI endorsement 'makes PVAXX the standard'. (Film & Sheet Production).(British Polythene Industries )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... BRITISH Polythene Industries is using PVAXX P2 biodegradable polymer to make compostable bags and laundry bags. The material can be processed on standard machines and PVAXX claims that it has become established as the industry standard for...

Black pigments. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... New black pigments from Cabot are said to provide clearly differentiated performance for the production of polyolefin films. All three pigments, Black Pearls 3030, 4040 and 4060, offer a balance of the four most important criteria for producers...

Stiffer mLLDPEs from Exxon. (Film & Sheet Production).
January 1, 2003... TWO new Exceed metallocene-based LLDPE grades have been added by ExxonMobil for applications such as heavy duty shipping sacks, stretch film, hygiene film, liners and merchandise bags. They have densities of 0.927 and melt indices from 1.3 to...

Pinning by static. (Film & Sheet Conversion).
January 1, 2003... Caption: Improved core pinning systems incorporating Eltex Elektrostatik static charging systems are now available from Arrowquint to match the high speeds and tensions of modern rewinders. A static charge induced into the web as part of the...

Geiss former has built-in downstream. (Film & Sheet Conversion).
January 1, 2003... A COMPLETE inline forming and trimming system built by Geiss for a Danish customer combines a vacuum forming machine with sheet loader/unloader, transfer device, CNC trimming station and a stacking unit for finished parts. The large...

Higher speeds for new hot air welders. (Film & Sheet Conversion).
January 1, 2003... NEW Unimat and Uniplan automatic welding machines with high operating speeds and low noise operation replace the existing Universal type produced by Leister Process Technologies. The Unimat hot air welding machine can reach speeds up to 12...

Third Rotomec for Brand. (Film & Sheet Conversion).
January 1, 2003... A ROTOMEC 4000-2 ES nine-unit press due to be installed by Valmet Converting at Salford-based Brand Packaging in April will be Brand's third gravure printing press of this make. Brand has received a large contract from Sonoco Europe and the new...

Mini winder enables scrap thermal ribbons to be reclaimed. (Film & Sheet Conversion).
January 1, 2003... THE Dusenbery Model 416 mini winder is intended to enable sound material to be rewound and reclaimed from faulty thermal transfer ribbon rolls which would otherwise have to be discarded because of poor tension control, inaccurate core alignment...

Robots for plastics injection moulding. (Automation & Robotics).
January 1, 2003... Robots have been used on plastic injection moulding machines for many years. The majority of applications use linear beam type robots, but there is an increase in the use of six-axis articulated arm types for certain applications. Ian Hyland,...

Six-axis machines give beam robots a hand. (Automation & Robotics).
January 1, 2003... THE integration of six axis and beam robot systems is demonstrated by a number of installations by Wittmann UK which, as well as selling the beam robots made by its Austrian parent, also installs Toshiba and Kawasaki six-axis devices. The...

Look after your robot and it will look after you: Conair Europe provides some essential tips on the care and maintenance of robots. (Automation & Robotics).
January 1, 2003... THE moulder that has a regular schedule of brief, controlled shutdowns for robot inspection and preventive maintenance will, in the long run, experience less downtime and lower costs than the moulder that doesn't. Once a month, in as little as...

Three axis CNC for [pounds sterling]12,000.
January 1, 2003... APEX Robot Systems has introduced a low cost, three-axis servo-drive robot, the SB, which sells for [pounds sterling]12,000 -- a price at which Apex says most other manufacturers are selling much lower accuracy models with inverter drive. ...

Not just a sprue picker. (Automation & Robotics).(Spaceminster says its Alfa Phoenix product is a swing arm robot and not just a sprue picker)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Caption: Mast swing-arm devices used to remove mouldings do little more than that. They swing in, grip the sprue, swing out and drop it. But Spaceminster reckons that its Alfa Phoenix does rather more, preferring to call it a swing arm robot...

Robots cut bottlenecks at extrusion downstream. (Automation & Robotics).(Conair installs Fanuc M6i articulated-arm robot to palletize PVC fence profiles at Pittsburgh, USA site)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... A POTENTIAL pay-back of less than a year is seen as likely for robots handling heavy extrusions at the end of the line, where two workers may otherwise be needed to handle heavy profiles. To demonstrate the viability of using robots in...

Automation makes toolmaking faster and more flexible. (Automation & Robotics).(Mason Pinder Toolmakers)
January 1, 2003... MACHINE utilisation has been increased by 40 per cent following completion of a [pounds sterling]400,000 project to introduce process automation with on-line networking at Mason Pinder Toolmakers of Doncaster. Mason Pinder started the...

Cable control in tight situations. (Automation & Robotics).(Kabelschlepp Metool introduces Robotrax 3-D cable carrier)
January 1, 2003... KABELSCHLEPP Metool claims that its new Robotrax three dimensional cable carrier is the first to be capable of performing circular and multi-axial movements while delivering power, vacuum and coolant water to the end of arm attachment of a...

Rapid payback from automotive lamp handling. (Automation & Robotics).
January 1, 2003... Caption: A payback time of 4 months was logged by a British moulder producing vehicle rear lamp clusters when it installed a handling system based on a customised UPM Box Stacker to give unattended operation. The criteria were that the...

Product assembly conveyor can carry more than before. (Automation & Robotics).
January 1, 2003... A FLOW LINE carriage system from Ace Assembly Systems for the assembly of large but relatively lightweight products such as vacuum cleaners, deep fat friers and other electrical appliances, has been increased in capacity. The latest system has...

Automation for bottle palletising. (Automation & Robotics).
January 1, 2003... AUTOMATION equipment for blow moulding was introduced last year by Bekum's UK agent Hamilton Machinery Sales. It is built by Delta Engineering of Belgium and includes automated versions of standardised equipment such as lost head cutters and...

Software toolkit programs motion control. (Automation & Robotics).
January 1, 2003... MOTION CONTROL software 'believed to be the highest-level and simplest-to-use machine control solution ever released for this application sector' has been released by motion controller provider Baldor to provide automation builders with a rapid...

Automated system produces PU filters in 29 formats. (Automation & Robotics).(system developed in Germany by Kern-Liebers Dispensing Technology)
January 1, 2003... AN AUTOMATED system for making polyurethane air filters in 29 formats ranging in size from 50 x 100 to 1,000 x 500mm at an average output of 600 an hour has been developed in Germany by Kern-Liebers Dispensing Technology. The system uses a...

Letting robots do the work frees staff for QC. (Automation & Robotics).
January 1, 2003... Caption: German bag machine maker Lemo has automated some of the more strenuous aspects of bag production. Removing packs or rolls of bags and placing them into their shipping cartons alongside the bag maker can require the operator to handle...

Lubricant improves wood composite output. (Pipe & Profile Extrusion).
January 1, 2003... A NEW solid lubricant for polymer-wood composites has been developed by Lonza Group. It has been evaluated in both HDPE-oak and HDPE-pine composites and found to increase extrusion outputs compared to combinations of Acrawax C and zinc...

Pipe line dedicated to random PP. (Pipe & Profile Extrusion).(polypropylene pipe)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... AN extrusion line designed specifically for making random polypropylene hot water pipes has been introduced by Cincinnati Extrusion. The Proton single screw extruder has been fitted with a barrier screw tuned to PPR processing. Power Feed...

Euromap publishes data transfer definitions for extrusion lines. (Pipe & Profile Extrusion).
January 1, 2003... Euromap has published a set of recommendations for defining data transfer between an extruder and its downstream equipment. The new Euromap 27 recommendations have been drawn up for pipe and profile lines initially and further work is likely to...

Saws to deal with thick-walled pipe. (Pipe & Profile Extrusion).
January 1, 2003... TO MATCH demands for thicker walled and composite pipes Battenfeld has introduced a swarfless cut-off saw designed for cutting PE pipes up to an outside diameter of 1,600 mm, with a maximum weight of 450 kg/in and a maximum wall thickness of...

Ancillary injection spawns new multi-component range. (Injection Moulding).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... THREE members of the Cannon Group have combined to produce a new series of Sandretto injection moulding machines. The Serie Nove Multi is a multi-component machine with greater flexibility than Sandretto's standard two-component machine, and is...

Temperature controller switch gives 10 per cent more mouldings. (Injection Moulding).
January 1, 2003... CYCLE time savings of more than 10 per cent have been achieved by a major pharmaceutical packaging supplier by switching to a gwk teco cw 25 cold water temperature controller on a 48-impression tool. The cw 25 enabled the existing chilled...

D-M-E expands collapsible core range with Tooler tie up. (Injection Moulding).
January 1, 2003... ARCHFORM collapsible cores made by Tooler of Finland are now available worldwide as the result of a new marketing partnership with D-M-E. Tooler was originally the mouldmaking department within Finnish pipe and pipe systems manufacturer Uponor,...

Tunnel gate inserts. (Injection Moulding).
January 1, 2003... New Exaflow Konturflow single part tunnel gate inserts are intended for small to medium sized parts and supplied as precision finished units ground on all sides. The top or front face may be machined by the mouldmaker to match the specific...

3T RTP installs world's largest SLS machine. (Prototyping).
January 1, 2003... LASER sintering prototyper 3T RTP has responded to twin market demands for larger prototypes and bigger rapid manufacturing batches by installing the world's largest available laser sintering machine. This, a P700 model from EOS, has a build...

Sintered tool inserts last for thousands of shots. (Prototyping).
January 1, 2003... A STAINLESS steel sintering material now available from 3D Systems can be used to produce tooling inserts which go beyond prototyping to multi-thousand production. LaserForm ST-200 is a 420 stainless steel which is sintered in the SLS...

New blow moulding dies raise productivity. (Blow Moulding).
January 1, 2003... Guill Tool & Engineering of Rhode Island, USA has introduced a new line of dies for extrusion blow moulding. Series 1000 dies have a special centre flow spiral deflector said to ensure a concentric melt flow free of knit lines. The design...

RIM-Cast stretches the envelope. (Prototyping).
January 1, 2003... RIM-CAST has developed a new polyurethane resin for use with its Intermediate Production Tooling system. This employs polyurethane-faced tooling that is claimed to produce rapid prototypes more economically than silicone rubber moulds, while at...

Prototypes prove brake systems. (Prototyping).
January 1, 2003... STEREOLITHOGRAPHY photopolymers from Vantico are helping to prove out vital automotive braking systems at TRW. The company's engineers needed to evaluate new designs to enhance the crucial servo valve body but these were complex parts made of...

MCP's toughest vacuum casting resin yet. (Prototyping).
January 1, 2003... A NEW resin from vacuum casting specialist MCP Equipment was originally formulated for automotive crash test prototypes, so it is no surprise that the company hails it as its toughest yet. Known as MCP 2155, the new material has the fit and...

Production innovation to get the best out of PEEK. (Engineering Materials).
January 1, 2003... NEW processing techniques have been developed by two manufacturers of high performance components to benefit from the extreme properties of Victrex PEEK polyaryletherketone. Icotec of Switzerland is making fasteners used in motor racing and...

Fluoroelastomer for injection moulding and extrusion. (Engineering Materials).
January 1, 2003... FLUOROPOLYMER producer Dyneon has developed a new faster-curing fluoroe-lastomer for injection moulding. Dyneon Fluoroelastomer MIP 8640X is a di-polymer with an integral cross-linking system, and is based on the company's proprietary...

DuraGrip not an Alcryn derivative. (Engineering Materials).
January 1, 2003... IN our November issue (page 32) we referred to a new grade of Advanced Polymer Alloys' Alcryn called DuraGrip. In fact DuraGrip is not a version of Alcryn, but is a new TPE devised by APA for overmoulding on to rigid olefinic substrates. ...

Polypropylene composite for high strength thermoformings. (Engineering Materials).
January 1, 2003... UK THERMOFORMER Linecross Thermoplastics has joined forces with Dutch company Lankhorst Indutech to exploit PURE polypropylene composite. PURE is manufactured by Lankhorst Indutech from co-extruded polypropylene tapes that are cold drawn to...

Impact modifier meets flammability requirements for V-0 computer housings. (Engineering Materials).
January 1, 2003... THERE ARE two key requirements for injection moulded computer monitor housings -- high impact strength and a UL 94 V-0 flammability rating. Unfortunately the two conflict. Flame retardants such as brominated species and antimony oxide cut the...

Vita increases use of PCR in TPE. (Engineering Materials).
January 1, 2003... A NEW series of thermoplastic elastomers has been formulated by Vita Thermoplastic Polymers to include post consumer reclaim. The development was triggered by demands from the automotive industry, which is under an obligation to use recycled...

Centre of excellence in PU technology. (Polyurethane Processing).
January 1, 2003... Loughborough University has established PUR Technology as an International Centre of Excellence for PU within the Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Accumulated expertise in PU materials testing, development and...

Foam block machine adds flexibility. (Polyurethane Processing).
January 1, 2003... CannonViking has added new technology for foaming round and rectangular PU blocks with the option to foam under negative or positive pressure. It is to distribute the single block foam production machine developed by the Spanish Flex Group...

Flame retardant is compatible with new blowing agents. (Polyurethane Processing).
January 1, 2003... Producers of rigid polyurethane and polyisocyanurate foams are changing formulations to accommodate a new generation of blowing agents as HCFCs are phased out. This has created a demand for a compatible flame retardant that offers higher...

Blast cleaning with a bonus. (Tooling).
January 1, 2003... Dry ice seems the perfect blast cleaning medium. It is non-abrasive, it disposes of itself, and it adds a thermal 'explosion' effect to the physical impact of the beads. Mike Martin from MSM, which distributes the Cryonomic system, makes the...

Axiom: a true home for the polymer library: Clive Maier tests powerful internet access to Rapra's massive abstracts database. (Software Review).(Product/Service Evaluation)
January 1, 2003... IF you've got it, flaunt it. Rapra Technology has it in the shape of the Polymer Library, the world's biggest and best collection of information on plastics and rubbers. Flaunting it means taking the Polymer Library to the market by putting it...

Moldflow releases a major upgrade to Plastics Insight.
January 1, 2003... Release 4.0 of Moldflow Plastics Insight, the company's flagship moulding simulation software, includes hundreds of improvements making it one of Moldflow's most important releases. Perhaps significantly, the company chose Euromold rather than...

Campus comes easy. (Software Review).(CAMPUS, the free international plastics database)(Product/Service Evaluation)
January 1, 2003... CAMPUS, the free international plastics database, has just become even easier to use. The database is supported to strict ISO standards by more than 30 polymer manufacturers worldwide and this means that data values from different suppliers can...

Software directory. (B-M).
January 1, 2003... BLOW MOULDING/THERMOFORMING Accuform T-Sim, B-Sim Accuform, +420 677 210465 Symbolic Systems, 01227 738892 Single user price: [pounds sterling]2,000 - [pounds sterling]5,000 Simulation of blow moulding and thermoforming,...

Fluid flow and heat transfer simulations enhanced. (Software Review).
January 1, 2003... GERMAN developer NIKA has released version 3.0 of EFD.Lab, its fluid flow and heat transfer simulation software. This new release now supports non-Newtonian fluids, an essential not only for plastics processes but also for many applications in...

Plastics Pioneers. (What's New on the Web).
January 1, 2003... Polymer Training has set up a web site as an integral part of its new Plastics Pioneers service. This is a technical training and support service for small companies with fewer than 30 employees. For a fee of [pounds sterling]250 per year or...

Sprint Tool & Die. (What's New on the Web).
January 1, 2003... Sprint Tool & Die has demonstrated its commitment to delivery promises by adding a progress check facility to its web site. Clients can enter a password-protected area to check on the progress of their tooling at anytime. Progress is shown by a...

Omnexus. (What's New on the Web).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Omnexus has announced improvements to its web site and email news service. From January, the email newsletter has been expanded to include more headlines, both European and US. New topic sections have been introduced to focus the news more...

Let's twist again -- Delcam adds solids morphing. (Software Review).
January 1, 2003... VERSION 5 of Delcam's PowerSHAPE hybrid modelling software introduces solids morphing. This is a whole-body edit function that allows entire regions of a solid to be stretched, twisted or otherwise distorted, without disconnecting its faces....

IQMS integrates quality control into ERP. (Software Review).
January 1, 2003... IQMS, developer of the EnterpriseIQ ERP IT solution for plastics processors, has released IQ Quality, an integrated quality control system. IQ Quality is a suite of software modules that is integrated into EnterpriseIQ so that manufacturers...

CADfix goes east and upgrades. (Software Review).
January 1, 2003... ITI TranscenData's CADfix data interoperability tool is to become an integral part of a leading Japanese pre/post-processor product. Under an OEM agreement signed with CD-adapco Japan, developer of the Pro-Modeler system, CADfix functionality...

Acrylics for in-mould decorating. (Film and Sheet).
January 1, 2003... Autotype International has launched its AutoForm PM range of polymethylmethacrylate films intended for in-mould decoration applications. The new films have better resistance to abrasion than the hard-coated polycarbonate films conventionally...

Acrylic sheet for sanitary ware. (Film and Sheet).
January 1, 2003... Atofina subsidiary Atoglas has added three new products to its Altuglas Sanitary range of cast acrylic sheets for the sanitary ware markets. Altuglas CS Easy Forming has been formulated for modern intricately shaped designs. It can be...

Adhesive for flexible metal foil packaging. (Film Adhesives).
January 1, 2003... Atofina has developed a high fluidity ethylene butyl acrylate maleic anhydride terpolymer for use as an adhesive in the manufacture of flexible multi-layer packaging material made of metallised plastics films. Lotader 4210 may be diluted...

Low-migration polymeric plasticisers. (Plasticisers).
January 1, 2003... Plaxter polymeric plasticisers produced in Italy by COIM have now been introduced to the UK by Brenntag (UK). The plasticisers are polyesters with molecular weights ranging from 'a few hundred to a few thousand' and this results in lower...

Process aid for tyre and other rubber formuations. (Processing Aids).
January 1, 2003... INDSPEC Chemical has developed a processing aid for hard-to-process rubber formulations used in the production of tyres and other demanding industrial, appliance and transportation applications. Ulti-Pro 100 is a resorcinol material that...

Fluorochemical technology produces silicone-free release agents. (Release Agents).
January 1, 2003... Daiken Chemical Europe has drawn on its proprietary fluorochemical technology to create a new range of mould release agents. Daifree agents are free of silicones and so are reckoned ideal for automotive and electronics applications. The...

New acrylic and PVCs from Atofina. (Thermoplastics).
January 1, 2003... Atofina has added a new acrylic and two PVCs to its range of thermoplastics. The acrylic, Oroglas Frosted, produces articles with the surface appearance of frosted glass. The frosted finish can be adjusted to a degree by processing....

Versatile modular system. (Leak Testing).
January 1, 2003... The Vector family of leak and flow testers from Uson Europe has patent-pending Advanced Leak Detector software that is said to perform leak testing up to 70 per cent faster than any previous system. The PC-based system can perform virtually...

QC viscometer and temperature controller. (Viscometry).
January 1, 2003... Brookfield Viscometers has introduced a new cone and plate viscometer intended for repetitive testing in quality control operations. The CAP 1000+ uses a small (1 ml) sample that makes for rapid testing, and is suitable for a wide range of...

Pre-expander copes with block and shape production. (EPS Processing).
January 1, 2003... Hirsch Maschinenbau has developed a pre-expander that is equally suitable for both small block manufacturers and big shape moulders. The new Preex 7000 machine has a fluidised bed drier and operates at a pressure of 0.5 bar. It has a usable...

New chillers optimised for latest refrigerant. (Temperature Control).
January 1, 2003... Coolmation has launched a new range of air-cooled water chillers specifically designed for optimum performance with R407C refrigerant. This refrigerant replaces the banned ozone-depleting R22 refrigerant but has different characteristics that...

Coolmation gets Rhoss agency. (Agency Update).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Coolmation has taken over the UK agency for the Italian-made Rhoss chillers and associated products. Rhoss makes air and water cooled chillers from 3 to 1,500 kW, and its range is described as 'One of the most competitively priced in...

Chilling deal for PET processors. (Agency Update).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... PET equipment specialist Anker PET Equipment is to distribute chillers and temperature control equipment made by Frigomeccanica of Italy to PET processors. Frigomeccanica's main distributor in the UK, IsoCool, will provide technical service and...

New agency for AZO. (Agency Update).
January 1, 2003... German materials handling company AZO has appointed Ingredient Handling Solutions as its sales agent for the UK and Ireland with the retirement of Martin Kent, managing director of the former agent, Essem (Systems and Services). ...

Mobile laser welding workstation. (Tooling).
January 1, 2003... Laser Lines (Industrial & Medical) has introduced a mobile laser welding workstation for making precision repairs and modifications to mould tools. The new ALM-150 unit uses a 150W laser from Alpha Laser in a self-contained wheeled chassis...

Conferences & exhibitions.
January 1, 2003... Additives February 19 -20 2003 ACE Conference. Society of Plastics Engineers Additives & Colours Europe conference in Antwerp, Belgium. SPE, +32 3 541 7755 (fax +32 3 541 8425, e-mail spe.europe@pi.be). [New] May 19 - 20 Blowing Agents...