Polymer Training & Innovation Centre protected by Bunting drawer filter magnet

29 May, 2018

Bunting Magnetics is a well-established supplier of magnetic separators and metal detectors. The European manufacturing headquarters are based in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, UK and the company has an extensive overseas network of distributors and marketing agents.

The Polymer Training & Innovation Centre provides polymer training and consultancy, specialising in injection moulding, blow moulding and extrusion training. The centre is a technical training and consultancy business owned by City of Wolverhampton College.

At their Telford training facility, the Polymer Training & Innovation Centre has working production-sized plastics manufacturing equipment for injection moulding, blow moulding, thermoforming, materials handling, and a wide range of other important ancillary equipment.

The best way to learn

Technical trainer, Andrew Dermody, explained the importance of trainees having practical training on the equipment. “We have great support from the industry and equipment manufacturers such as Bunting. This support means that we can deliver practical training, with a hands-on approach, and that is the best way for our delegates to learn. Having the drawer filter magnet installed exactly as it would be in a production plant, is an ideal way to show our students best-practice and highlight the importance of metal removal.”

The training facility at Telford was refurbished in early 2017 and Bunting supplied the FF Drawer Filter Magnet in March this year. The FF grate magnet is bolted onto the bottom flange of a Summit Systems fed hopper. The magnetic separator has a transparent front plate so that operators are able to see the material passing through or held within the system. Virgin plastic beads fall from the hopper through two rows of high strength tube magnets, which attract and hold any magnetically susceptible materials. The tube magnets use ultra-strong, permanent, neodymium rare earth magnets. The cleaned plastic beads are then fed into the Engel injection moulding machine. Removing all metal contamination ensures that the final plastic product is free from defects and reduces the amount of waste and potential damage to moulding machines.

Quick and easy removal of the magnet assembly

On a regular frequency, dictated by the amount of metal captured, the tube magnets are removed as one complete assembly from the housing and cleaned. The design of the drawer filter magnet means that removal of the magnet assembly is quick and easy, keeping maintenance times to a minimum.

“The Bunting design is good as it is very visible,” said Dermody. “Often magnetic separators are placed out of sight in hoppers, which means that they can be forgotten. In this installation, the drawer filter magnet is right in front of the machine operator and the clear front allows easy visual checking of the magnets.”

Bunting also supplied drawer filter magnets for use in the classroom and the Polymer Training & Innovation Centre plans to incorporate ‘metal separation as one of the course topics. Bunting commented that the drawer grate magnet is widely regarded as standard for the plastics industry and the company has supplied thousands to plastics manufacturing operations globally.

“It is great that delegates are able to see, in practice, the importance of having good magnetic separation equipment in the plastics process,” said Tom Higginbottom, Bunting’s sales engineer. “Even with virgin raw materials, there is always a small amount of fine ferrous metal contamination and there is always the risk of larger tramp iron that could seriously damage the injection moulding machine.”

Apprenticeships and funding

The Polymer Training & Innovation Centre recently staged the Technivation event at its newly upgraded training facility in Telford. During the day a series of short technical presentations were given, together with the opportunity to experience the Polymer on-line simulation software, and the chance to talk with primary and secondary equipment suppliers; including Bunting Magnetics. Visitors were able to learn more about Polymer apprenticeships and funding and discuss their organisation’s own training requirements.

www.buntingeurope.com