What Type of Plastics Machinery Do I Need?

Plastic is the most widely used material for manufacturing in the world. Because of that, there are many machines available that can perform many specialized and unique tasks. Plastics machinery covers a wide category of equipment—including anything from molding machinery to material recycling (and everything in between). Southern Fabricating Machinery Sales (SFMS) handles all types of plastics machinery and helps this industry greatly be repurposing excess machinery from one shop to be re-utilized in another growing facility. Our relationships in the industry and knowledge of the process and products make us a great partner for your machinery needs.

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Below are the primary categories of plastics machinery that SFMS offers and can work directly with you and your company on:

Injection Molders

Injection molding is a process where material for the object being molded is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and then injected into a mold cavity. Once the cavity is filled with molten plastic, it is cooled and the plastic hardens to the shape of the cavity. These machines are usually specified by their tonnage capacity—which is the force the machine uses to keep the mold closed while performing molding processes. Injection molding is used to create many things such as wire spools, packaging, bottle caps, automotive parts and components, toys, etc. To learn more about injection molding, you can visit this page.

Extrusion Molders

Extrusion forming molding is a process where materials such as aluminum and plastics (including polystyrene, nylon, polypropylene and polythene) are heated until they become fluid. They are passed through a die, which gives them a sectional shape, then are slowly cooled to maintain that shape in long, continuous sections. Extrusion molding is used to make pipes, hoses, drinking straws, curtain tracks, rods, and even fiber-like materials for weaving into fabrics. Here is a great resource to learn more in depth about extrusion dies and extrusion molding.

Blow Molders

The blow molding process begins with melting down the plastics and forming it into a coupon of sorts (parison actually). The parison is then clamped into a mold, heated until almost molten and then filled with air. The air pressure pushes the warm, soft plastic out to match the mold just like a balloon. Held under air pressure, the plastic is then quickly cooled until it hardens, retaining the shape of the mold at which time the mold opens up and the part is ejected. The blow molding process is used to create plastic bottles, gas cans, lids, etc. Here is a website showing the many types of parts that blow molding can produce.

Vacuum Forming

The vacuum forming process uses a sheet of plastic that is heated to a malleable forming temperature, stretched onto a single-surface mold, it is then forced against the mold by a vacuum. The vacuum force holds the sheet in place until it cools and hardens — thus, retaining the shape of the mold. Vacuum molding can be used to create protective covers, signs, masks, toys, and a wide variety of larger parts.

Rotational Molding

Rotational molding works much like a cement mixer holding a pre-shaped mold. The mold is filled with dry cool plastics and other materials and then rotated to evenly spread the cool, dry pellets all around the mold. During the rotating process, heat is applied — usually in the form of large torches — and the mold slowly becomes an oven, heating the plastics within up until they achieve a molten state and flow across the interior surfaces of the mold. The rotation continues to evenly dispense the material around the mold. Fans are then applied to begin to cool the exterior slowly allowing the plastics to cool while retaining the shape of the mold.

Once cooled, the mold can then be opened up and the part removed. Typically, this process is reserved for low volumes of very large parts like water storage tanks, furniture, road signs, etc. Here is a great website that has more information on rotational molding.

Shredders & Granulators

Shredders and granulators are used in the process of shredding and recycling plastics as well as other materials. Shredders work very much like your household paper shredder — reducing plastic waste to smaller and much more manageable sizes for easier shipping and handling, which is typically needed for offsite recycling purposes.  

Granulators break down plastic sprues and waste into manageable pellet size pieces to easily be reused back into the molding process in operation and/or render plastics into small pieces — which are then reused to make other plastic goods.

You can take a look at some shredder and granulator machines here.

Routers

While technically not regulated to plastics machinery only, CNC routers can play a very important part in any shop running molding machinery. The CNC router helps in many plastics trimming processes as well as engraving and cutting sheets of materials like polycarbonate, PEEK, UHMW, Kynar, acrylic, nylon, acetyl polypropylene, CPVC, and PVC. Also, the router is used to drill accurate holes, machine shapes, and engrave within flat sheets and thermoformed materials.  

Used extensively in the sign making industry, a router can be a great addition in plastics machinery in a shop.