Extrusion Q&A: Mixing it up
In his first three Extrusion Expert webinars, Allan Griff, a consulting engineer and extrusion expert with more than 40 years of experience in plastics extrusion, focused on machinery and auxiliaries. In his fourth, he went inside the barrel and hopper to look at resins.
Entitled, “Do monkey with the formula,” the webinar, which drew more than 700 registrants, sought to empower extruders to be able to make alterations to compounds where needed and better understand how different resins, additives, and compounds interact.
Injection molding: Bright future remains for micro- and nano-molding
Still need another niche to help protect your business from competition, both local and overseas? If your company’s skill set is large, then maybe you should think small, as in very tiny components.
Plastic bag pioneer sets our record straight
In the April issue of MPW, our Notable Processors feature included a profile of Leon Farahnik, noting "he started a new company that eventually grew into Hilex-Poly, the world's largest processor of plastic shopping bags, leading the transition from paper to plastic bags at the country's grocery stores." Respectfully taking issue with the verb "leading" is Bob "Bagsy" Siegel.
The BPA debate from two perspectives: Executive Q&A with David Feldman and Steven Hentges
In 1992, Dr. David Feldman almost accidentally discovered that bisphenol A had migrated from his polycarbonate test tubes into a test specimen and appeared to be mimicking estrogen. In the years since, and especially recently with a new series of bans, BPA, and the PC it’s contained in, has sparked a debate on the chemical’s safety.
Stronger, lighter, cheaper . . . naturally
Design engineers have an expanding suite of natural fibers available for compounding into base resins. These not only “green up” products due to their renewable nature, but also can lower weight and boost physical properties, often at a lower cost than inorganic alternatives.
Tips of the trade: Prevent chatter marks on your extruded sheet
So many things can go wrong during sheet extrusion that it's almost a miracle processors are able to produce as much good product as they do. Chatter marks can be a common problem when processing sheet, but with this checklist you'll be able to locate and fix a weak spot quickly.
Resin purchasing: Are you getting the best possible price?
Being a resin market expert didn’t used to be one of the hats you had to wear. But now more than ever, it pays to understand what’s driving your biggest cost.
An “Xten-sive” look at life as an American molder, Chapter 3: Green design for better manufacturing
There are many ways to be a sustainable company. In Part 3 of our in-depth look at the daily operations of the injection molding business of Xten Industries, our focus is on green design for more efficient manufacturing.
Xten Industries works hard at keeping its eye focused on productivity, profitability, efficiency, sustainability, and solving customers’ challenges with creative solutions. Opportunities for all of these exist in the various stages of the mold/molded part design, material selection, and the molding process chosen.