Milestone for KraussMaffei with first order for 5500 tonne machine

KraussMaffei has successfully sold its largest injection moulding machine to date, with a clamping force of 5500 tonnes.

The MX 5500 machine has been operating at Weber GmbH & Co. KG, a German manufacturer of large-volume waste containers, since October 2014, as a result of the company investing in new moulds for the production of containers with volumes of 660 to 1100 litres.

“The manufacturing of large volume containers for waste disposal requires the use of large moulds. The high shot weights and long flow paths require high clamping forces," explained Helmut Guntermann, Managing Director at Weber. “The new injection moulding machines must also produce locking forces of at least 4500 or 5500 tonnes. The new KraussMaffei machines offered us the best option for our requirements."

In addition to the MX 5500, Weber has also purchased a MX 4500 – 75000 machine in order to achieve both greater capacity and flexibility.

KraussMaffei says that the technical details of its large machine series make it ideally suited for process reliability in production when using heavy moulds of up to 150 tonnes. These include the solid design of the machine bed and the mould fixing platens as well as the lengthened and widened sliding shoes. An added advantage, it says, is the guide for the tiebars in the movable mould plate across the entire opening width of the clamping unit.

Large machines in the MX series are characterised by a hydro-mechanical twin-platen clamping unit developed by KraussMaffei, which it says is particularly compact in design, fast in production and low-maintenance in operation. The locking system is designed for short cycles with precise positioning and due to the platen parallelism, the mould is protected and high part quality is ensured.

"Furthermore, the MX series scores points with its high melt quality and superb shot weight consistency," commented Klaus Wimberger, Head of Design Engineering at KraussMaffei. “For the design and implementation of the new large machines for Weber, the KraussMaffei Design Engineering department worked closely together with the people responsible, resulting in a successful system solution.”

The new MX 5500 and MX 4500 at Weber are both equipped with additional automation solutions, specifically an LRX 1000 linear handling unit (X stroke of 3000 mm).