Story

A leading manufacturer of large, complex molds has used Gammaflux hot runner temperature controllers for over 15 years for quality control purposes - to help ensure that every mold they build ships out the door pre-tested to be in perfect operating condition. The company has tested close to 1,000 molds with Gammaflux controllers over the years.

Large, Complex Molds

As a producer of some of the largest plastics injection molds in the world, quality control is critical. A single mold can typically weigh 95,000 lbs. and have over 1,300 connection points. It can also represent an over $1 million investment for the molder.

Every new mold built is pre-tested before shipment to ensure it is operating correctly. This is not a simple procedure; every single heater and thermocouple on these huge molds must be wired and connected to the Gammaflux controller, then brought up to operating temperature. Every measurable operating condition is tested and recorded using the Gammaflux temperature controller. The controller provides the operating data, and the finished reports for every tool are kept on file for reference.

Whenever a tool comes back for service or maintenance, the company tests it again with the Gammaflux controller and all values are compared to the original report. This helps the company quickly diagnose where problems exist with heaters and/or thermocouples.

Gammaflux Diagnostics Make the Difference

For close to 15 years the company worked with the Gammaflux 9500 series controller, but recently replaced it with a new 60-zone Gammaflux TTC system with both 15 amp (qty. 36) and 30 amp (qty. 24) control modules. The new TTC provides state-of-the-art hot runner control and diagnostics.

While most hot runner temperature controllers do a good job providing and maintaining even heat to hot runner systems, it is the Gammaflux software features that provide what others can't. Features utilized by this moldmaker include Gammaflux's Mold Doctor®, which is a troubleshooting tool that provides four diagnostic tests including wiring analysis, fault analysis, thermodynamic analysis, and historical mold performance. All of these tests ensure every heater and thermocouple in the system is working properly, and if they aren't, it identifies what's wrong.