When a customer came to Wilmington Machinery with the need to produce two significantly different capacity bottles at rates up to 600 bottles per minute to match their filling line speed, the company had the answer. The new dual rotary blow molder (aka “wheel”) machine with common extrusion, diehead and trimming components is capable of molding small bottles of 1 oz. to 10 oz. capacity for single serve drinks, personal care, and chemical products, to name a few.
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The wheels are both 60-station, all-electric single or dual cavity that produce the required rate without mold change. This dramatically reduces setup time from one bottle size to the other by as much as 75%. Quick disconnects for electrical, water and pneumatic services reduce wheel setup time to a matter of minutes as opposed to a substantial number of hours. Trimmer setup is comparatively short in duration. A further advantage is the ability to perform preventive maintenance on a wheel while it is out of production.
The gain is the reduction in time and labor costs, plus the assurance that the setup performs correctly at startup. A unique rail system guides one of the two wheels out from the molding system and then guides the other wheel into the molding position.
The new machine called the MSBW60-DC is currently available in several configurations including clamping force/bottle size, single or dual parison, one to six layers, radial mold positioning (aka variable pitch) and custom features as required. The cost of the machine with the dual wheels and two sets of molds is approximately 15-20% more than the single wheel with two sets of molds.
A further advantage is that if volumes increase, one or the other wheel can be retrofitted with its own extrusion and trimming equipment. This minimizes the investment for a second production line.
Since 1979, Wilmington has produced rotary blow molding machinery in six tonnage capacities and with 12-60 clamping stations. There are models for bottles as small as 1 oz. or large handleware type bottles up to 6 liters and anything in between. The company considers itself a pacesetter of innovation in rotary blow molding, the dual wheel machine being the latest.
