Eastern Plastics Machinery launches Seiki’s latest hot runner

Essex-based Eastern Plastics Machinery has announced the availability of the new Seiki SMV compact valve gate system, on sale for the first time this week.

Seiki Corporation, Japan’s longest standing hot runner maker known for its dual voltage probes, has now designed a compact valve gate probe which has a hot runner side build height of 120mm, making it ideally suited to small size injection moulding machines for the production of small products moulded in engineering plastics such as LCP and Nylons.

Key to the success of the system is said to be its ability to create a temperature profile through the hot runner unachievable with conventional single heater valve gate systems.

"We are really excited about the possibilities this new system offers,” commented Chris Siddall, Managing Director of Eastern Plastics Machinery.

“From our own tests, single heater valve gates can never perform as well as the dual heater systems when it comes to heat sensitive materials and if you mould small products in engineering plastics, the issues of degradation are temperature control become even more important. That’s why we build both single and dual heater body valve gate options and we work closely with the customer to identify which will perform best for them. This SMV system really offers performance at a level not seen before for small compact moulds”.

Siddall added that raw material cost savings when switching from cold to hot runners can be huge, but an unreliable hot runner that causes downtime due to over heating, or degradation of lost production at startup or shut down that impacts on productivity and uptime, can lead to even greater hidden extra costs.

“Good temperature control through every millimetre of your hot runner flow channel is one key to better productivity and product quality,” Siddall concluded.