Robotic Molding Process

Mold­ing is the process of man­u­fac­tur­ing by shap­ing pli­able raw mate­r­i­al using a rigid pat­tern. Some of the most com­mon types of mold­ing per­formed by a robot include blow mold­ing, com­pres­sion mold­ing, injec­tion mold­ing, plas­tic mold­ing, and trans­fer molding.

Robot­ics are becom­ing increas­ing­ly pop­u­lar in injec­tion mold­ing relat­ed process­es, from load­ing com­po­nents to fin­ish­ing and assem­bling mold­ed parts. Six-axis artic­u­lat­ed robots are relied on to unload and process parts down­stream from the mold­er, and can also per­form sec­ondary tasks like in-mold dec­o­rat­ing, in-mold label­ing, and auto­mat­ed insert loading.

Motoman’s robots are being used for insert load­ing work cells for trim­ming and debur­ring due to the lim­i­ta­tions of sim­ple manip­u­la­tors for extrac­tion of mold­ed parts. Six-axis robots can do more in a foot­print. Some of Motoman’s mold­ing robots include the DA9IC NX100, the HP3 NX100, and the SDA20D DX100.

KUKA’s robots are being increas­ing­ly used for mold machine extrac­tion appli­ca­tions. The part is removed from the injec­tion mold­ing machine, and then sec­ondary appli­ca­tions like clip inser­tion, trim­ming, assem­bly, and pack­ag­ing can also be com­plet­ed, offer­ing more flex­i­bil­i­ty. This allows end-users to accom­plish more with a sin­gle invest­ment. Some of KUKA’s mold­ing robots include the KR 30, KR 150 L 110K.

Fanuc has inte­grat­ed in-mold label­ing work cells, where the robot pulls down labels into the injec­tion mold­ing machine, becom­ing a per­ma­nent com­po­nent of the part. Robots can also insert met­al or plas­tic parts into a machine for the mold­ing process. Some of Fanuc’s mold­ing robots include the F‑200iA RJ3iB, the M‑710iC/50T R30iA, and the R‑2000iB/​150U R30iA.

Robot­ic over-mold­ing merges two mate­ri­als to form one cohe­sive com­po­nent. Robots are fre­quent­ly used to over-mold auto­mo­tive tail-light lens­es, man­u­fac­tured by inject­ing dif­fer­ent col­or plas­tics into one machine. 

Fur­ther, robot­ic mold­ing work cells can also per­form son­ic and laser weld­ing. The welder is placed on the end of a six-axis robot, which helps reduce cycle times, a cru­cial achieve­ment in the mold­ing industry. 

Robots​.com pro­vides Inte­gra­tion-Ready Fanuc, KUKA, ABB, and Motoman mold­ing robots. We can offer these robots at a reduced price, new or used. Con­tact us today online or at 877−762−6881 for more information.