The purging process of your extrusion blow molding machine is an essential part of maintenance. Without taking the appropriate action, there’s a risk of the machine becoming contaminated. If that happens, it would either not run correctly or not at all, which would slow down or stop production.
The goal is to prevent contamination from happening to extrusion blow molding machines to ensure optimal operability. Although you can choose from several different purging methods, two, in particular, stand out as the most effective.
Purging Compound
Using a superior-quality purging compound is by far the best way to keep extrusion blow molding machinery in excellent condition. This specially formulated product cleans thermoplastic molding and extrusion machines. Usually, the compound contains a resin combined with various additives to clean the barrel, screw, and die. However, a purging compound serves other purposes as well such as for removing carbon and color deposits, making material and color changes, and when cleaning the hot runner mold.
An extrusion blow molding machine cleaned with a purging compound runs better, faster, and more efficiently compared to other methods. Along with the cleaning benefits, a quality purging compound eliminates the need for screw pulls. Since this prevents overhauling the machine manually, you save valuable time, effort, and resources.
For thermoplastics processing, using a purging compound to clean extrusion blow molding machinery is vital. After all, this industry has become increasingly more competitive. For your company to gain an edge, you need ways to reduce costs and improve production efficiency.
One very important note, when using a purging compound to clean the screws of extrusion blow molding machines, always select a high-quality product formulated for that task and follow the manufacturers instructions to a tee. Keep in mind that both the thermoplastic resin you need to purge and the processing temperature dictate the product grade.
Preventative Purging
Taking preventative measures is the second proven method for purging extrusion blow molding machinery. Instead of waiting until the machine needs purging, follow practices to eliminate the risk of machine downtime. This method offers additional benefits such as reducing the rate of scrap, avoiding line shutdowns, and decreasing the number of rejects.
If you wait until a problem arises, you’ll find yourself in a costly situation. Focus on using a purging compound on a scheduled basis, which prevents the beginning of contamination. The amount of downtime with a scheduled purge is dramatically less than the amount of time it would take to pull the screw or head once contamination starts.
After looking at the five primary benefits of following a preventative maintenance schedule for extrusion blow molding machines, you’ll understand why this is imperative.
- Prevents carbon contamination and color buildup
- Minimizes the time and effort needed to pull the screw to manually clean
- Limits the number of times you need to remove the screw
- Reduces material waste for each production run
- Decreases purging time
For the best-designed extrusion blow molding machines, Pet All Manufacturing is your most trusted source. For information on different machines, we invite you to visit our website or call to speak with a company representative.
