A New Alternative to High-Pressure Injection Molding

 

For years, when it came to foam injection machines, the only options were low-pressure or high-pressure. That all changes now with the introduction of Wilmington Machinery’s LUMINA MP800 – the versatile, efficient and advanced medium-pressure injection molding machine.

After much anticipation, Wilmington Machinery proudly presented the MP800 to the industry at NPE 2018 in Orlando. The announced launch has been widely covered by a number of leading outlets, including Plastics News, Plastics Technology, Design News, Thomas for Industry, British Plastics and Rubber, and Plastics Insight.

The MP800’s two-platen, 800-ton press features a 152mm extruder with two-stage (screw/plunger) injection and a 44-pound shot capacity with medium-pressure capability (10,000 psi injection). It offers flexibility for either solid or structural-foam molding applications – and powerful throughputs up to 2,000 pounds per hour. The MP800 presents our latest innovations in general purpose injection molding:

• Superior melting of up to 100% recycled
• Thinner plastic walls, less weight, same strength
• Two-stage injection for reduced cycle times

With a mold space of 98 by 68 inches, it has a stroke of 108 inches, a clamp speed of 2,000 inches per minute and cycle times ranging from 30 to 90 seconds. Hold on, because it’s a new era in injection molding!

The new alternative 45 years in the making

After 45 years of experience with all types of high-output structural foam injection molding machines, we have developed an ideal medium-pressure hybrid machine for molding large parts, both solid or foamed, with much thinner sections – resulting in substantial weight reduction and much faster cycles.

The benefit of this new machine over high-pressure machines is two-fold: less raw material required, plus lower cycle times. Other benefits include:

• Large platen space to tonnage ratio
• Can accept hot or cold runner molds
• The flexibility to mold both solid and foamed large parts
• Can process commodity and engineering grades of thermoplastic materials, including 100 percent recycled materials
• Press features a linear-bearing support and guidance system
• Cost reductions derived from directly injecting low-cost, inert gases to produce foamed parts

The LUMINA MP800 is a general-purpose molding machine ideal for automotive, material handling, recreational, infrastructure, building, industrial and many other mediums – large-size products where quality and cost are imperative. The hybrid design offers both a hydraulic press and an electric extruder drive for energy savings and fast cycle times to match any past design.

Learn more about how the MP800 can help you – Download a specifications sheet