Arburg busy stand at Fakuma 2017

A compact turnkey system featuring a vertical Allrounder 375 V produced flexibly tension straps in various lengths, colours and end piece combinations on demand from shot-to-shot – without any need for conversion. Visitors could enter the desired tension strap variant directly at the terminal, causing the order to be transmitted directly to the central Selogica control system via the OPC UA communication protocol. The tension strap was automatically cut to the selected length, both ends spliced by means of a plasma process and placed in the cavities of the four-cavity mould in accordance with the order. Handling was performed by a six-axis robot compactly housed within the installation area. The inserts were optionally overmoulded in hook/hook, hook/eyelet or eyelet/eyelet combinations and the finished tension strap then removed from the system. In industrial practice, this kind of high-volume production with multiple variants is ideal for cable assembly in the automotive industry, for example.

Premiere: Additive processing for standard PP and Armat 12

Many injection moulding customers at the Fakuma 2017 were also interested in additive manufacturing. Because using theFreeformer and Arburg Plastic Freeforming, the original materials used in injection moulding can be utilised. Furthermore, the user remains independent of the pre-defined settings and can carry out individual part and process optimisations.

For the first time, the open system additively processed the semi-crystalline standard PP (Moplen) and the new Armat 12 support material to form functional components. The delicate yet durable cable clips had the click effect typical of injection moulded parts.

Innovative applications and turnkey solutions

Arburg brought two automated applications for the automotive industry to the trade fair: A hydraulic two-component Allrounder 470 S produced steering wheel covers for car interiors. The PC component ensures the required part strength, while the surface made from PC/ABS can be selectively galvanised downstream. A special feature was the 100-percent quality control with the aid of a thermal imaging camera integrated directly in the mould.

The second automotive component was a ring gear made from PA 6 (GF 40) for small planetary gear sets. The technical component was produced on an Allrounder 370 E Golden Electric which represents the electric entry-level machine series. This individual turnkey solution also involved 100-percent inline quality control with visual inspection, in this case after part removal.