Tooling

A new mechanical design for increased rigidity and reduced thermal distortion is one improvement built into the new EDAF Series of ram EDM equipment from Makino (Auburn Hills, MI).

Dry ice is the medium employed in the Aero 40 HP compact, high-pressure blast cleaning system offered by Cold Jet (Cincinnati, OH).

The Aero system is said to provide advanced economical dry-ice blast cleaning in an environmentally friendly format with optimum best pellet integrity, maximum cleaning aggression, and the most reliable blast stream on the market. In addition, the Aero 40 HP uses Cold Jet's SureFlow system to prevent clogging and pellet sublimation, ensuring uninterrupted cleaning performance.

DME Company announced the newly expanded line of mold components with the addition of Black and Gold Interlocks in metric sizes, due to customer demand. The Black and Gold interlocks ensure accurate alignment and guidance of the mold halves during mold setup and throughout mold operation.

Mounting of flexible sealing elements in the mold cavity plates enables overmolding of inserted metal parts without flashing or compression damage, according to supplier Hasco Hasenclever GmbH + Co. KG (Lüdenscheid, Germany). Use of A4200 sealing elements (MurSeal technology) has proven successful in the molding of reinforced and unreinforced plastics. Machining of the flexible sealing elements also presents no problem with standard cutters used for steel.

Makino (Mason, Ohio) is maximizing shop floor productivity at toolmakers with its MMC-R automation system for robotic fixture plate distribution in four- and five-axis horizontal and vertical machining centers.

Sidel (Le Havre Cedex, France) has developed a new, self-lubricating composite material for studs and wear rings that eliminates the need for greasing moving parts, allowing blowmolders to cut weekly maintenance operations. The Kohlox thermocomposite material has a low coefficient of friction, allowing parts to move freely without any lubrication.

A patent-pending tooling system for pipe and profile extrusion uses what it calls the world's first triple helix calibrator to provide precise adjustability during start-up and operation and dramatically cut start up, changeover, and production scrap. Called the Flextrusion system and produced by HG Engineering (McPherson, KS), the technology features a patent-pending adjustable pipe-sizing sleeve to provide precise adjustability during start-up and operation.

Ever needed a compact core solution to free challenging undercuts from a tool that won't cost the earth? Progressive Components (Wauconda, IL; www.procomps.com) may have more answers now with the latest additions to its FlexiCore range of undercut release solutions. The 12-by-14-mm and 12-by-16-mm cores spring away from the molded detail as the tool's ejector plates move forward.

International Chemical Products Inc. (Huntsville, AL) now offers a rust remover for the injection molding industry that it says is environmentally safe and nonhazardous.

Toolox tool steel from Hasco (Lüdenscheid, Germany; ) is a prehardened and tempered alternative to the conventional plastic tool steel materials 1.2311 and 1.2312. It boasts exceptionally low residual stresses, enabling nearly distortion-free machining, and features high toughness (1080 N/mm2 tensile strength) and high dimensional stability, even at high cutting rates.