If you’re at K this week, you’ll probably notice green toolboxes everywhere you go.
The Arburg management team pose with the toolboxes in front of the Allrounder at a press event on the eve of the show's opening.
That’s because largest application on the Arburg stand at K 2022 is a premium toolbox in Arburg colours. In hall 13, stand A13, a turnkey system based on a hybrid Allrounder 1120 H will produce and refine the main components of the toolbox live, with visitors being allowed to take the finished product home.
The hybrid Allrounder 1120 H from the Hidrive series features a clamping force of 6,500 kN and a size 7000 injection unit, making it the biggest Arburg injection moulding machine. The turnkey system also contains a Multilift V robotic system with 40 kilogram load.
Among other features, over-moulded 3D design films on all eight corners of the toolbox provide the necessary styling and high-grade aesthetics. The film inserts from project partner, Leonhard Kurz, are positioned on workpiece carriers and fed into the production cell via a double sliding table. There, a new Scara robot from KUKA, which can be programmed via the machine control system, processes and positions them while observing the cavity distances of the injection mould. Then a linear robotic system gets into action: the Multilift V 40 picks up the inserts from the centring station, moves past an ionisation bar, which cleans them, and inserts them into the 1+1-cavity injection mould. Here, they undergo in-mould lamination in the insert moulding process. This is especially suitable for heavily profiled components. The robotic system then removes the two moulded parts and feeds the lid to a hot stamping station, where the embossed Arburg lettering is refined inline with a brushed and metallised decor. The lid is discharged together with the lower tray via a conveyor system.
The innovative tool carrier is combined with a manual workstation outside the turnkey system. There the toolbox is completed: the centre section, handle, closing clips and the feet were pre-manufactured on Allrounders at Arburg in Lossburg. The black-grey components are made from Recopound® from Leonhard Kurz. This material is extracted from post-industrial recyclate (PIR) from PET films. Compared to new material, it uses up to 40 percent less CO2.
Arburg also has another exhibit at its trade fair stand showing that high-grade plastic parts can also be manufactured from post-consumer recyclate (PCR): an electric Allrounder 470 A with a clamping force of 1,000 kN and equipped with the recyclate package from Arburg produces the same two handle halves for the toolbox. However, at the K 2022, PCR on the basis of PP (Dipolen) from mtm plastics (a 100% subsidiary of the Borealis Group) is used. Sensors monitor the internal pressure in the mould to ensure high part quality. The “aXw Control ReferencePilot” assistance function integrated in the Gestica control system ensures precise holding pressure and constant shot weights, whereas the new feature “aXw control RecyclatePilot" ensures a stable shot weight by means of adaptive process control. Moreover, the components are weighed directly after the demoulding. In this way, weight deviations can be detected and documented immediately after injection moulding, with good and bad parts sorted downstream. Handling is carried out by a Multilift V 10 with a load-bearing capacityof 10 kilograms. The new linear robotic system has a dynamic entry axis that reaches speeds of up to 4,000 millimetres per second.
The hybrid Allrounder 1120 H uses the Gestica control system and numerous smart functions. At the K 2022, Arburg will present for the first time the Varimos plug-in from Simcon, and the AI-supported variant analysis from Cadmould, where the injection moulding simulation is automated and learns which effects machine parameter changes have. Through the cross-linking of the software with the Gestica control system, even more precise machine parameters can be generated during the filling simulation with the "aXw Control FillAssist," and the configuration of moulded part and injection mould shortened from several weeks to a few days. A further assistance function for this application is the "aXw Control EnergyAssist," which helps to optimise switching on and off for all heating zones.