Extrusion machinery manufacturer Boston Matthews has announced a new space saving Vertical Co-Extruder (Jockey) and main Extruder production set-up. The new extruders are designed using one common base, thereby reducing the usual footprint to a minimum, saving production space.
Boston Matthews
The unit shown comprises of a 75mm main single-screw extruder with a 30mm Vertical Co-Extruder with the company offering a range of extruder sizes/outputs to meet the customer’s specific requirements. This also includes options for the processing of Fluorocarbons and high temperature polymers such as PEEK.
The company claims that the Vertical Extruder has complete movement – including up & down; forward & back; and a complete 270° swivel.
Boston Matthews says this virtually eliminates all alignment and reduces it to just fine adjustment. The company claims that the precision fine adjustment will help to simplify and reduce set-up time, whilst minimising the risk of damage to the tooling during the process.
Both Extruders are controlled by one central control system using the Boston Matthews developed SMART Control System.
This is a colour touch screen PLC control which also provides control, recipe storage, alarms, trending, network connectivity, management set security levels, production data export and production monitoring safety controls.
The company believes that AC, direct-drive technology provides precision screw speed holding for the highest quality melt and output performance whilst at the same time ensuring maximum energy efficiency is obtained. Direct-Drive also greatly reduces operational noise, dust and routine maintenance.
Any routine maintenance has been designed so that the operator can carry it out without the need for calling on specialised maintenance personnel.