Moulds cut tooling costs

Programmable press brings control to high temperature processing A HYDRAULIC press, equipped with a system that allows complete control of pressing at high temperature and pressure is being introduced by Fontijne Holland BV of Vlaardingen, the Netherlands. The presses are developed mainly for research and development but they have also been used in the commercial production of small, continuous fibre reinforced thermoplastic parts. Up to 50 programs may be executed from the control panel, and these may be changed as required. The company says the system is sophisticated enough to cope with multi-step programs that can accommodate various heating and cooling rates, ranging from 1-20”Cmin. The presses are designed to cope with a range of component sizes and processing requirements. Standard presses reach a maximum temperature of 300°C with

Moulds cut tooling costs BY USING composite moulds to make litter bins for the Channel Tunnel nightstock, composites moulder Concargo is able to significantly reduce tooling costs.

Programmable press ensures total control at high temperatures and pressures.

parts up to 200 mm in diameter. These parameters may be increased to allow the press to operate at temperatures of 5OO”C, and handle parts

up to 400 mm in meter, on request.

dia-

Pieter van Vuuren, Fontijne Holland BV; tel: + 31-10-4348233; fax: + 3 I- IO- 4352655.

The Weston-superMare, UK-based firm, has been contracted to produce 1600 phenolic bins and makes them in a warm pressing process using heated, one-piece, matched moulds produced on a tooling system developed internally. The moulds are made from an epoxy resin-vinyl ester gel-coat composite rather than metal. Concargo says its closed mould system eliminates the need for further processing to produce a complete component, thus achieving cost savings while continuing to supply high quality parts.

Concargo Ltd; tel: + 44- 1934-628221; fax: + 44- 1934-417623.

Reinforced Plastics September 1996