In the article “Hot Runners: A View from the Bottom Up” from Plastics Technology Online, an industry veteran shares insights gained over years of hands-on experience in the realm of hot runners. With a career spanning back to 1988, the author offers a unique perspective, having worked extensively on maintaining and troubleshooting hot runners across a multitude of molds worldwide.
Hot runners have evolved significantly, offering a multitude of benefits in today’s injection molding landscape. They eliminate cold sprue and runner, thus reducing scrap and saving costs on regrind. Direct gating onto the part with low-vestige tips or valve gates is made possible, eliminating the need for complex runner systems and offering more flexibility in gating locations.
For larger parts, sequential valve gates help control flow and mitigate concerns like knit lines or flow lines. Multiple hot drops can be utilized to reduce fill pressures, while eliminating long cold runners improves the process window and reduces pressure loss.
While hot runners can add upfront costs and complexity to molds, their economic justification lies in significant savings in cycle time and material usage, particularly for high-volume or high-cost resin applications. Despite added maintenance requirements, advancements in design have minimized issues over the years, decreasing instances of plastic buildup in hot-runner channels.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where the author will delve deeper into the factors that have had the most significant impact on hot-runner maintenance and performance.
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Article with all rights reserved, courtesy of ptonline.com
Photo with all rights reserved, courtesy of depositphotos.com
