Quick mold changes

Especially in the small machine sector, many a solution can be beneficial, but not cost-efficient for conventional applications. That is why we have come up with a concept for a quick mold change for this exhibit that is not only practical but also affordable – with the clear goal: as quickly as possible from the last part from one mold to the first good part with the second mold.

We demonstrate how quick and easy mold changes can be on our hydraulic victory 330/80 (US model: victory 330/85) with a clamping force of 800 kN. The tie-bar-less machine with ENGEL ecodrive servo-hydraulics is not only ideal for the production of a wide variety of parts, but it also offers plenty of room for your mold and clearance for a robot, for example.

Roembke Mfg. & Design, Inc. (Ossian/Indiana, USA) provides us with the two molds for the application: salad servers and a fruit bowl, designed by Formfinder LLC (West Linn, Oregon, USA).

We use the mechanical quick clamping system QMC from Stäubli (Bayreuth, Germany, Duncan/South Carolina and Novi/Michigan, USA) for quick mold changes. The molds are not only easily transported in the production hall on an MLV mold change carriage, also from Stäubli, but they can also be pushed directly into the machine up to the clamping position.

Mold identification is carried out by means of RFID. The machine automatically adopts the correct data set for the mold without any additional adjustment to the control unit.

The iQ weight control machine software automatically adjusts the process parameters to batch fluctuations and changes in ambient conditions, shot by shot. This not only improves part quality during ongoing production, but also helps you get good parts faster after a mold change.

An ENGEL viper 12 linear robot removes the parts and places them on a conveyor belt. The end of arm tooling is also identified by means of RFID and exchanged with a quick coupling.