New Machinery Installed at RGE Whittlesey Site

The RGE Whittlesey site is our largest manufacturing site housing nearly 50 injection moulding machines with an impressive range of 35t – 3,150t clamp force. We have been investing in a number of new machines and site improvements over the past year to increase our capabilities and meet customer demands. In this article we are focusing on our vibration welding, CNC routing and 2700 Tonne injection moulding machines which have recently been installed at our Whittlesey facility.
 

CEMAS 999 Vibration Welding Machine

Vibration welding is an effective solution for welding plastics as it uses frictional heat to create precise and extremely strong seam joints between plastic components, with good aesthetic results. Our new CEMAS welding machine can be used to weld pallets, large dashboards and outdoor furniture. The machine is currently being used at our Whittlesey site for the production of heavy duty pallets with an impressive dynamic load capacity of 3000kg, a racking load of 1500kg and a static load of 4500kg. The production of these pallets involves the use of a 6-axis robot to place firstly a polypropylene base, followed by a metal frame, and then a polypropylene lid into the welding machine. The plastic lid and base are held in contact under pressure and vibrated so that the edges to be welded rub together, creating frictional heat and welding the plastic pallets around the metal frame. Our CNC routing machine is then used to smooth the rough edges of the pallet.

The CEMAS 999 machine can accept up to 200kg in upper tooling weight and exert a clamp force of up to 36KN.

Technos HD 3015 CNC Machine

Computer Numerical Control, or CNC machining, is a high-tech manufacturing process that pre-programs computer software to direct the movement of machines to produce and handle very specific tasks. The newly installed Technos HD CNC Machine is currently used in many of our customer projects here at RGE. We are also looking to update the design of our Datum writing tablet, which will involve manufacturing and cutting our wooden tablets in house, incorporating the use of this machine. The machine’s eight-position tool rack allows for a wider range of tooling options when machining and speeds up production time. Its servo motors are controlled from premium servo drives to ensure accuracy every time with rapid axes speeds of 50mm/min.

Negri Bossi Bi Power 27000H-41080 with six axes robot

The Negri Bossi 2700 is a two-platen injection moulding machine with 27000 KN clamping force, a reciprocating screw with electric screw rotation, and an injection capacity of 21790 cm3. It is currently being used to mould 1200 x 1000 pallets. The machine is specifically designed to provide consistent melt quality of recycled material. The unit is equipped with a 6-axis robot which can remove parts from the machine, stack parts and then push them along the assembly line.