Gripper System Removes Hot Plastic Parts From Injection Moulding Machines Without Leaving Tarnishing Marks

Gripper system removes hot plastic parts from injection moulding machines without leaving tarnishing marks

07-Oct-16

FIPA GmbH has developed a customer-specific gripper system for ZEIBINA Kunststoff-Technik GmbH that removes hot plastic parts from injection moulding machines without leaving tarnishing marks. The new gripper reduces staff’s workload and increases throughput.
ZEIBINA Kunststoff-Technik GmbH in Puschwitz, a medium-sized family company in the plastics processing industry with sites in Poland and Slovakia, uses the gripper primarily to produce reflectors for lights in automotive construction. After the blanks have been removed from the injection moulding machine, another system vaporises the surfaces of the plastics in a high vacuum with aluminium or other metals.

The new gripper is made up solely of components from the modular FIPA gripper construction kit. The components that determine the function include grippers with a soft HNBR coating, finger grippers, and grippers with sensors which inform superordinate control that the gripping sequence has been a success.
The sprue grippers are equipped with a heat-resistant HNBR rubber on the inner jaws. They are heat-resistant up to 160 °C and grip the hot injection-moulded parts with extreme care, avoiding scratches on the sensitive plastic surface. This HNBR coating, free of paint wetting impairment substances (PWIS) and silicone, leaves no marks on the plastic parts which might prevent subsequent coatings of the plastic parts.
The sprue grippers have the advantage of a high closing force and thus a secure grip of the workpiece. Two finger grippers prevent lateral slipping of the parts being held.
Automated removal reduces staff workload on a sustainable basis. A cycle time of 33 seconds increases throughput considerably.
ZEIBINA Kunststoff-Technik GmbH has already drawn on the FIPA’s wealth of expertise for a whole series of other projects. When the medium-sized company needed a reliable automation solution for the removal of hot injection-moulded parts of around 120 °C, there was no question that FIPA would be entrusted with the development and construction of the gripper.