Find the Right Product Innovations for Your Mold Shop

Photo credit (clockwise): Hasco, SolidCAM, Meltio and M.A. Ford

MoldMaking Technology strives to keep its readers up to date on the most relevant innovations that are being supplied to the mold and die industry. Each day, we share a new or improved technology, or a well established company service, and our monthly technology roundups seek to gather this information into an easy-to-digest format so that you don’t miss it.

What follows are some digital-only products showcased for the month of October. Others — which made an appearance in the October print/digital issue — were compiled in these “Moldmaking-Related Technology Highlights.” Access the complete product post through each linked title. If you’re interested in more content like this, we encourage you to take a look at the other roundups published this year.

Stainless Steel Sealing Plugs Feature High Corrosion Resistance

Photo Credit: Hasco

Hasco showcases its new offerings in stainless steel sealing plugs. Particularly suited for use in cleanrooms, the Z9425/.../VA plugs enable reliable cooling of injection molding tools when using hot or cold water or heat transfer oil. The sealing plugs are temperature-resistant up to 180°C and have high corrosion resistance.

Water Temperature Control is Upgraded and Integrated Into Machine Control

Engel showcases its new eco-flomo temperature control system for continuous monitoring of all injection mold cooling and temperature control circuits. Integrated into the Engel injection molding machine’s CC300 control unit, eco-flomo uses Engel’s iQ flow control software platform to detect irregularities and boost process stability and reliability.

Photo Credit: Engel

Flute End Mill Series Addition Focuses on Finishing Operations

Photo Credit: M.A. Ford

The M.A. Ford TuffCut 3D XFO and XFO-AL series tangential radius form enables high-accuracy finishing of large drafted/radiused surfaces and blended fillets with one cutting tool. The series is designed to machine with a large stepover during finishing and semi-finishing operations accurately and efficiently.

Hot Runner Nozzle is Enhanced With Interchangeable Needle Gate Chamber

Photo Credit: Hasco

Hasco is expanding the Vario Shot nozzle program series from its Hasco Hot Runner Business Unit with a replaceable Vario Shot Xgate needle valve prechamber. This adds to the company’s extension in 2021, which also optimized the technology’s cable outlet placement.

Robot Slicer Software Simplifies Wire-Laser Metal 3D Printing Technology

Meltio created the Meltio Space toolpath generator to facilitate the use of its metal 3D printing solutions. By offering a user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, this robot slicer simplifies the integration of Meltio’s wire-laser metal 3D printing technology — which can be used for the manufacture or maintenance of medium parts and molds — by offering a built-in robot library and postprocessors for some of the most popular robotic brands, including ABB, KUKA, FANUC and Yaskawa.

Photo Credit: Meltio

CAM Software Solutions Streamline CNC Machining

Photo Credit: SolidCAM

SolidCAM highlights CAM solutions for faster, more efficient machining — seamlessly integrated and associative in Solidworks, Solid Edge and Autodesk Inventor.

SolidCAM’s iMachining is said to save 70% or more in CNC machining time, increase tool life 5X or more and provide users with optimal automatic feeds and speeds with the patented Technology Wizard.

Manifold Blocks for Flexible Cooling Circuits

Photo Credit: Hasco

Hasco has introduced the Z920/ manifold blocks for flexible cooling circuits. The blocks, which can be mounted directly on the injection molding machine, are compatible with the company’s cooling elements and can be individually extended through a modular plug-in system.

Robotic Metal 3D Printer Automates, Augments AM, Repair and Cladding

Photo Credit: Meltio

Meltio launches the Meltio Robot Cell, a turnkey plug-and-ply robotic arm solution for safer, more reliable and highly accurate metal additive manufacturing (AM) of components autonomously, as well as part repair or a feature addition, attributes that have been seen to produce long-lasting multi-material molds in hybrid AM applications. The entire process is controlled with the company’s Meltio Space slicing software.