Wilmington Machinery Meets Customer Molding Needs In 2019 With Engineering Breakthroughs

Since its’ founding, Wilmington Machinery has built equipment to meet customer-specific applications. Within the past year, the company has built and installed two new vertical presses, installed a second complete plastic pallet molding system, and re-engineered the MP800 structural injection molding and Series III rotary blow molding machines lines.

Recently, Wilmington Machinery built and installed two vertical structural foam presses for a customer looking for a machine that was better option than a horizontal press. The customer wanted the advantages vertical presses provide: ease of mold setup, reduced mold costs, and reduced floor space.

The two new large vertical type low-pressure structural foam presses have a 125 lb. shot capacity each. They accept from 1-6 molds mounted and produce 1-20 components on each cycle. Each of these vertical press molds is filled independently and precisely by the Wilmington’s proprietary Versafil injection system that sequences the mold fill and provides individual shot control to each mold. The machines also have energy saving servo hydraulics and Allen Bradley PLC controls.  

A second complete Wilmington Machinery plastic pallet molding system for molding 1300 x 1100 mm petro pallets (plastic resins) was delivered to a European customer. The customer was impressed to learn that the pallet produced on this new machine has a static capacity of 10,000 lbs, a dynamic capacity of 5,500 lbs, and a racking capacity of over 3,000 lbs The high capacity of the plastic pallet molded on this machine is virtually unheard of and often can only be found on metal versions at a higher cost. These pallets also perform very well on automated palletizing / shrink-wrap equipment and an automated racking system. 

The complete Pallateer system included the molding machine, a mold for a Wilmington designed pallet, robot pallet removal / conveyance plus nitrogen generating, resin blending / loading and mold chilling equipment.

Wilmington set up the entire system in its facilities in Wilmington, NC, to exactly match the customer’s installation for testing and training prior to shipment. Wilmington has built similar pallet molding systems and has designed pallets since 1975.

Recently, to meet customer demands, Wilmington re-engineered the MP800 injection unit to incorporate a first-in, first-out, reciprocating screw of 30:1 L/O and an in-line accumulator arrangement. The design maintains the ability to compound both virgin and recycled resins with various fibrous and non-fibrous additives for strength and reducing the cost of the molded component. 

Direct gas injection into the extruder barrel provides for large part thin-wall structural foam molding. The machine is also capable of non-foamed molding of medium sized parts. The MP800 model retains its capability of both cold runner and hot runner molds using either short shot (foam) or pack/hold molding techniques. The MP800 model has a shot capacity of 50 lbs and is capable of molding components up to 72” long x 48” wide.

Lastly, the new re-design of the Series III B Rotary Blow Molder includes reduced cost and delivery times and much more standard commercial componentry than its predecessor. Other advantages include a smoother running machine that is faster to set up, increased bottle production, more versatility, and a longer life. 

The Series III B also incorporates many of the features previously found on the Wilmington SB Series (small bottle) including dual cam actuation for performance and versatility, rotary timing valves for blow functions, plumbing of blow functions and mold cooling to the platens for faster setup, and more. Wilmington offers four sizes (tonnages) of the Series III B, available with 12-36 molding stations and two sizes (tonnages) of the SB Series available with 18-60 molding stations. Both series are available with single or dual parison.

Wilmington Machinery was founded to build structural foam injection molding and foam extrusion machinery. The company has undertaken considerable development of foamed extrusion blow molded packaging and foamed industrial blow molding and currently offers both machinery types. Additionally, it has produced custom plastics molding machinery for injection extrusion and thermoforming processes.

From a modern 65,000 square foot facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, the company is well prepared to meet its customers’ needs for large plastics machinery products. International shipments are commonplace and can be arranged via the nearby deep-water Port of Wilmington. http://www.wilmingtonmachinery.com/