Results of the JULY SimTech™ 2022 Injection Molding Challenge
First Place Goes to Andrea Bricola, Draexlmaier Automotive of America, and, First Place goes to Draexlmaier Automotive of America for the company spotlight category.
Congratulations Andrea Bricola and Congratulations Team Draexlmaier Automotive of America!
JULY 2022 SimTech™ Challenge Wrap Up
Two months in a row now Draexlmaier Automotive of America has clinched the First Place spots in both the company category and individual category. They are swiftly becoming the team to beat. However, Team PlastiKon is close behind. Will they outpace Draexlmaier?
Challenge Specifics & Notes from our Experts
This month’s challenge had a bit of a twist. We designed and configured a general purpose screw for the 150-ton molding machine in SimTech. Some of you may have noticed this machine and screw configuration has been used in prior challenges. The material used for the July Challenge is High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), a semi-crystalline material.
Molding a Cell phone Cover was this month’s part to produce. This type of part is considered an average nominal wall type part. The quoted (standard) cycle time for this job is 8.0 seconds. Which is quite a bit faster than the quoted cycle for the previous challenge part (14.0 cycle). So, for this month we had to mold a faster cycle with a semi-crystalline material.
In our expansive course offerings, we teach the specifics of a general purpose screw design (“GP” screw), a screw designed for shear sensitive materials (like PVC, polycarbonate, most “ring-structured” polymers) and a semi-crystalline screw design. We also teach the specifics for the semi-crystalline screw which is designed with a higher compression ratio and longer feed section on the screw.
The winning setup uses a good temperature profile on the heating barrel. With the amorphous screw, the winning setup uses a “reverse profile” temperature setting. This means the material temperature is set with the rear zone higher than the front zone and nozzle temperatures on the barrel of the machine. This will provide the extra energy needed to melt the semi-crystalline material using a GP screw and will aid in providing uniform mixing and melting of the polymer.
This month, we chose to feature the set-up from our second place finisher, Austin Haycraft from Plastikon. Austin focused on using the lower processing temperature range for the HDPE. He utilized a unique injection fill rate profile that utilized a slower fill rate into a faster fill rate and then slow the fill rate down for the last 20% of the fill to prevent any fill related defects. By optimizing the melt temperature, fill rate profile and mold temperature he was able to run a cycle faster than the quoted cycle and ultimately ran a cycle faster than our experts!
If you don’t have a full understanding of this configuration, Paulson Training Programs can help you with this. We offer a thorough explanation in our Basic and Advanced courses and seminars. Hope to see you there!
Company Team Winners: These are companies who have three or more employees participating, and for this month, the top three winning companies include:
- First Place: Draexlmaier Automotive of America, with a companywide average score of 137.3
- *Second Place: Plastikon, with a companywide average score of 133.7 (The Largest Number of Participants – Nine!!)
- Third Place: Modern Technical Molding Development, with a companywide average score of 131.7
Congratulations to our individual winners and company winners and to all who participated.
Individual Winners
- 1st place –Andrea Bricola, Draexlmaier Automotive of America – (First Place Last Month)
- 2nd place – Austin Haycraft, PlastiKon
- 3rd place – Josh Pace, Draexlmaier Automotive of America
Featured Set-up: Austin Haycraft, PlastiKon
To learn more about our monthly SimTech Molding Challenges visit details here. To see how you or your fellow molders ranked this month, check out the leader board by clicking here and select a month from the drop down menu.
As always, we’ll be announcing the over all 2022 ProMolder Champion after we tally all the scores from the entire year. Start earning scores!
In the meantime, get ready for the next month’s challenge! Take advantage and pre-signup. Don’t miss out. Get on the list to win! Until then, keep on learning!
Having Fun with our Competitions?
Imagine the team of skilled molders you could create if SimTech was in your plant 24-7? Your employees could be improving their molding expertise in a safe, low-cost environment, building critical thinking and troubleshooting skills. And you can stage your own friendly in-house competitions. It’s proven, molding simulation is the best and most cost-effective way to become a better molder. You don’t want your employees making their mistakes or trying new techniques on the production floor at an actual machine—now that’s a costly way to learn. The simulation of complex processes is quickly becoming the gold standard of skill development. SimTech is the answer for injection molding.
Here’s just a few of the applications you can employ with SimTech:
Hiring Qualified Employees – Before hiring a potential employee, test their knowledge and skills with problem solving exercises in Simtech.
Technician Promotion – Give your candidates for promotion a test before you make that decision.
In-plant Competitions to promote learning and discussion – Have your own competitions amongst your team. Have a discussion on what process settings work and why.
To learn more about SimTech and all the other skill development courses Paulson offers, visit PaulsonTraining.com or call 1-800-826-1901; or contact us via email sales@paulsontraining.com.
