Important Tips for Your Injection Molding Auxiliary Equipment
As a leading Kansas City plastic injection molding company, LeVic Plastics knows that it’s important to have the right equipment. Injection molding requires high-quality, primary equipment to complete the majority of each job. However, there is some critical auxiliary equipment that helps make each production run go smoothly from start to finish.
This article will provide some valuable advice on keeping your auxiliary equipment functioning properly. That way you can keep your Kansas City plastic injection molding operations running efficiently.
Hopper Maintenance
The hopper is the area where the plastic material is dumped before plastic injection molding in Kansas City can begin. It is an important piece of auxiliary equipment that needs to be properly maintained.
One simple thing you can do to protect the hopper is to ensure the hopper cover is always in place. This prevents possible contamination from ceiling debris, dust, condensation, or any other airborne items.
Also, be sure that the hopper is clean before you fill it with plastic. This is a critical part of custom injection molding in Kansas City. An unclean hopper can mean foreign materials can get inside the melted plastic and eventually into the molded part. This can make the part less effective or completely defective.
Granulator (Grinder) Settings
A granulator or grinder includes a screen that must always have the proper space settings and hole settings when making regrind material. When the holes are too large, the material will take too long to melt. This results in an unsuccessful melt and defective parts or products.
Temperature Controllers
Any Kansas City plastic injection molding company knows just how important it is to maintain the proper predetermined temperature for their molds. Temperature controllers––another critical piece of auxiliary equipment––must be functioning properly so that they can keep that consistency.
Temperature controllers maintain the proper degree level by circulating water to generate heat. In some instances, oil will be substituted for water is the mold temperature needs to be above 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The water or oil is circulated through metal pipes on the mold. If the temperature controller malfunctions, it can result in a defective mold.
Vacuum Loaders
A vacuum loader has a very specific role for Kansas City plastic injection molding. It is responsible for moving materials to a hopper attached to the molding machine. Operators should make sure that vacuum loaders are always properly maintained. Over time, their clear plastic hoses can accumulate dust which can affect the quality of a given part or product.
Cleaning the vacuum loaders is relatively simple. Place a clean dust rag in the tube and vacuum it’s way through the hopper. This should pick up almost all of the dust but continue to repeat the process if necessary.
Contact LeVic Plastics, a Premier Plastic Injection Molding Company in Kansas City
If you are looking for a dependable partner for your next production run, give our team at LeVic Plastics a call today at (800) 231-1232. You can also go online to receive a free quote on your next project.
