For thermoformers, Wilmington developed a new concept for a rotating melt-form extrusion / thermoforming machine. The concept enables processors to perform deep drawing with plugs during thermoforming at high production rates. The company says this will reduce container costs.
The machine is a melt phase type thermoformer with integrated single or multilayer film extrusion direct to the continuous rotary thermoforming machine with secondary trimming.
Machine operators have simultaneous control of extrusion and thermoforming for stricter quality control and great energy savings as the sheet is not heated twice as much as most other platforms.
In addition, Wilmington Machinery has expanded its service activities to include custom machine designs made from plastics and other types of processing machinery. Retrofitting processing machines built by Wilmington and others; Product design of large structural products for all industries; Training of customers’ production and maintenance personnel; and laboratory services for material testing, shape testing and prototyping.
“The need for service increases as companies continue to downsize or fail to recruit skilled service or production workers,” said Labelle, noting that customer retraining and taking on machines built by others are two new services.
Wilmington Machinery has made a number of improvements to its processing products for injection molders, blow molders and deep drawers.
Founded in 1972, the company specializes in very large and complex machines in a modern 65,000 square meter facility in the port city of Wilmington, NC
The company highlights the progress made since NPE2018.
For injection moulders, Wilmington has a new model press for making inexpensive pallets. The recently introduced PM-1C is a 350 ton low pressure machine capable of forming plastic pallets up to 48 “by 52” and weighing up to 40 pounds.
According to Russ LaBelle, President of Wilmington, the demand for plastic pallets is increasing worldwide.
“The price of wood has risen faster than the price of plastic, and that’s driving demand,” LaBelle said in an email.
Wood prices soared last year when many mills were closed due to the pandemic and demand from renovation companies and builders increased again.
Although wood production has reached a 13-year high, wood costs remain at record levels. At the end of March, the price of lumber per thousand board feet was $ 1,032, up 171 percent from $ 381 last year, according to Random Lengths.
Another factor is creating a new demand for plastic pallets.
“The import of wood is banned for pallets in many countries,” said LaBelle.
He believes the demand for plastic pallets will continue to grow and Wilmington’s 350-ton PM-1C will meet them.
With a melt capacity of 1,200 pounds per hour, the press can produce 30 pallets per hour. It is available for hot runner molds or the classic external and configurable multi-nozzle injection methods.
The machine is believed to be the lowest cost US-made machine of its type, competing with machines of similar capacity made in Asia.
“It’s 30 to 40 percent less compared to household machines and 5 to 15 percent less than Asian machines,” said Jim Boos, Wilmington sales and marketing manager, in an email.
Wilmington also operates a double-form pallet system. The new PM-3S is a 500-ton low-pressure press that can be used to form two plastic pallets of the same or different sizes. The pallet sizes go up to 48 “by 52” and weigh up to 38 pounds each.
The PM-3S has a melt capacity of up to 2,400 pounds per hour and can produce 60 pallets per hour. The machine is equipped with the classic, configurable, external multi-nozzle injection as standard.
Like all low-pressure and medium-pressure machines from Wilmington, the PM-3S processes 100 percent recycled plastic – also in flake form – and is suitable for structural foam, gas support, core backing and other injection molding techniques.
“Flake form is the cheapest recycled plastic, but it can be more difficult than others, especially if an extrusion system isn’t designed for it,” said LaBelle.
For injection moulders, Wilmington has a new universal medium pressure machine called the MP500. The 500 ton press is suitable for molding high quality plastic products for automotive, electrical, packaging, leisure and construction applications.
The MP500 features a proprietary in-line reciprocating screw / accumulator injection system that the company calls an in-line first-in and first-out accumulator.
It offers a maximum foam shot size of 480 cubic inches, which is approximately 15 pounds for high density polyethylene, and a programmable injection speed and pressure of 10,000 pounds per square inch. The shot size for solid molding is 240 cubic inches, or about 7.5 pounds.
The machine is also available in an 800 ton model with the same capabilities.
Wilmington has three developments for blow molding machines. First, the company is on the move with a twin-wheel rotary blow molding machine called the MSBW60-DC. The machine can produce two bottles of different sizes, significantly reducing set-up time and labor costs. It comes with two 60 station “wheels” suitable for single and double preform with common extrusion, die and trim components.
The main advantage of this machine is that as the volume increases, one or the other wheel can be retrofitted with its own extrusion and trimming equipment, which minimizes the investment for a second production line.
Wilmington also has a line of next generation rotomoulders – Series III B – which the company claims are faster and more versatile. The series is available in four different clamp sizes with nine to 36 forming stations and extrusion systems for the production of bottles with up to seven layers, using both single and double preform techniques.
The new wheel features Wilmington’s “radial positioning,” also known as variable pitch, as well as pre-installed air and water lines direct to the terminals.
The new series also has servo-driven actuation of the clamps with two cams for faster opening and closing times, smoother operation and less maintenance.
In a further development for blow molding machines, Wilmington has a new rotary model machine that can produce 1 gallon bleach bottles with handles at speeds of up to 144 bottles per minute in single or multi-layer configurations.
The 7.5 W24 model is a 7.5 ton extruder blow molding machine with 24 stations and 24 stations and Series III B which, compared to other platforms where several machines have to produce at comparable production rates, require less space, labor, maintenance and Operating costs required.
For thermoformers, Wilmington developed a new concept for a rotating melt-form extrusion / thermoforming machine. With this concept, processors can “deep-draw” plug-assist thermoforming at high production rates. The company says this will reduce container costs.
The machine is a melt phase type thermoformer with integrated single or multilayer film extrusion direct to the continuous rotary thermoforming machine with secondary trimming.
Machine operators have simultaneous control of extrusion and thermoforming for stricter quality control and great energy savings as the sheet is not heated twice as much as most other platforms.
In addition, Wilmington Machinery has expanded its service activities to include custom machine designs made from plastics and other types of processing machinery. Retrofitting processing machines built by Wilmington and others; Product design of large structural products for all industries; Training of customers’ production and maintenance personnel; and laboratory services for material testing, shape testing and prototyping.
“The need for service increases as companies continue to downsize or fail to recruit skilled service or production staff,” said LaBelle, noting that customer retraining and taking on machines built by others are two new services.
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