Amerimold 2021: Engineer
Shown here is a 3D-printed mold insert with conformal cooling printed with DAP-AM HTC45 powder from International Mold Steel. Daido Steel’s DAP-AM HTC45 powder adds high thermal conductivity to conformal cooling and the toughness of an H13 mold insert.
EDRO Specialty Steels, besides showcasing RoyAlloy and other premium plastic molding steel grades, was proud to present its DLC coated steel inserts.
At this year’s Amerimold trade show, Ellwood Specialty Steel showcased its new P20 LTQ lens quality mold steel. Fully compliant to the new General Motors mold steel specification, customers producing both lens molds and lenses have found the machinability, polishability, quality and reliability to be exceptional. With over one million pounds in use to date, the marketplace has relied on Ellwood to supply them with this “Made In the USA” mold steel with short lead times.
CGS North America was promoting its CAD/CAM software, CAM-Tool, designed specifically for moldmakers. CAM-Tool’s proprietary CAM engine calculates toolpaths using the surface data and not using a mesh like most CAM systems. This gives users more accurate NC Code for their machines and results in longer tool life, increased surface finish and a reduced spotting and polishing time. New features released in version 17 include a common tool path boundary added to the tree view, which allows users to automate their programming by permitting the software to use a common tool path boundary when applying templates. Component point rearrangement was also added into the calculation condition window, allowing users to redistribute the points inside a tool path to achieve perfect toolpaths. Having this built into the calculation conditions page enables this function to be built into templates to further automate machining processes.
Rob Hill shows how the VizSeek visual search technology can locate photos, PDFs, 2D drawings and 3D models using shape. This dramatically reduces the time needed to find files in a database and eliminates duplicated work.
Amper's simple and affordable real-time machine monitoring tool is specifically designed for job shops to help increase spindle uptime. Amper's system is installed in 10-minutes where you can get real-time alerts for downtime and visual dashboards so your team can focus on the 80/20. Photo from Amper
TopSolid representatives walked MMT through the company’s TopSolid 2021 CAD/CAM parametric software. Offered to the industry with the aim of eliminating repetitive mold building steps, lowering overall cost and reducing programming and cycle times—all in the name of simplification—TopSolid automatically programs mold features like ejector pins, water lines and locks. For example, a screw can be added in under 20 seconds, exhibitors noted, versus three minutes manually. Similarly ejector pins, which require eight processes and 15-20 minutes to add manually to an assembly, can be added via TopSolid in 14 seconds.
Photo Credit: MMT
So far this month we have provided some highlights on the many companies that exhibited additive manufacturing (AM), hot runner, cutting tools, mold components, machining, mold components, EDM technologies and more at Amerimold this year (see “Amerimold 2021 Post-Show Flashback: Build”), as well as surface treatment, mold maintenance and repair and mold builders. There were over 144 exhibitors present at the show who hailed from the U.S. (and even a few from Canada!) and more than 2,300 people who attended.
MMT continues to spotlight some of these companies here, particularly those with mold material and design manufacturing/data management software offerings, in the slideshow above.
PTXPO 2022
In lieu of a stand-alone Amerimold event in 2022, Amerimold will be throwing its weight behind the Moldmaking Pavilion at the inaugural Plastics Technology Expo (PTXPO), taking place on March 29th-31st in Rosemont, Illinois. This event, designed to bring the entire plastics supply chain under one roof, will feature a unique pavilion dedicated to connecting mold buyers and relevant technology providers.
Product, equipment and service suppliers exhibit at Amerimold to identify the true needs of the mold manufacturing marketplace and then develop solutions to meet those specific requirements. They also show up to foster lifelong relationships developed at this event over the years. The MoldMaking Pavilion at PTPXO is poised to do the same.
It should be noted that PTXPO will be occurring on NPE’s off years, to ensure those in the plastics industry have consistent opportunities to reconnect and network; a standalone Amerimold will return the years of NPE (beginning 2023).
