Spin Stack mold to incorporate five technologies at show

By: Clare Goldsberry

The Tech Group (Scottsdale, AZ), a West Pharmaceutical Services company, has teamed up with automation supplier Motoman (Booth #6352), Krauss-Maffei, and Dynamic Tool & Design (Booth #10336), a mold manufacturer in Menomonee Falls, WI, to produce a universal Spin Stack mold that incorporates five technologies into one operation. The application is a poker chip and will demonstrate two-shot, insert molding, and in-mold labeling of two labels, one on each side of the poker chip

Todd Kuhn, director of Tooling Technology for The Tech Group, says the first shot will first be molded and rotated and slugs will be inserted into the mold; then it will be rotated to the B platen, where the second shot will be molded over the slug; and finally it will be rotated to apply dual in-mold labels, one on each side. Kuhn said the pressure is on to complete the IML component of the demonstration. “We're moving as quickly as possible to make it happen for NPE, but if we can't complete this portion, we'll have samples at upcoming shows developed at our Engineering Center,” Kuhn explains.

The collaboration between all the parties involved has been extensive. Krauss-Maffei in Florence, KY,

donated the press and Motoman donated the robot for the demonstration that will take place in Motoman's booth (#6352). The Tech Group developed the concept and did the product and mold design for the universal Spin Stack tool in cooperation with Jes Gram, developer of the Spin Stack technology. Dynamic Tool built the mold, sharing the cost of the mold with The Tech Group.

This will be the first universal Spin Stack application in which the mold was constructed so that the cavities and cores can be removed from the parting line with the intention of using the mold for other parts, a concept similar to the M.U.D. design. “This mold won't work for every application—we're limited by size of the part—but we already have a second application from The West Co. in Europe that we're looking at putting into this tool,” says Kuhn.

The poker chips will be given away at Motoman's booth, but hold your excitement—the slugs in them render them worthless at casinos. However, the insert technology that the slug demonstrates is inserting RFID tags into the poker chips so individual casinos can better track their chips.

Kuhn says this NPE collaboration is ideal for all the companies involved. “That we are able to showcase our expertise in bringing these existing technologies together into one operation and in one press is a unique opportunity for us.” —CG; cgoldsberry@modplas.com

LINK: http://www.npeadvisor.com/article.php?ArticleID=2288