Flexible Adjustable plates and evolution of
Your parts may require several technologies of
thermoforming (i.e. vacuum or pressure forming, twin sheet)
but none of them justifies completely an investment as the
numbers are too low? Cannon can propose the machine that
can within minutes convert from single sheet to double sheet Cannon thermoforming machines
or to pressure forming.
Eco-friendly
If you ever dreamed of having a thermoforming • Keep compatibility with your existing tool. With Cannon solutions you can save energy and material,
machine so... As long as your tools have a sealing edge, there is no thanks to:
• Adjustable: no extra tooling, just the mould… problem. The same if it has a flat gasket on the mould base • Reduced clamping area (less scrap)
• Quick in tool change: just slide the tool in and lock it in to be compressed up against the aperture plate. • Halogen heaters for better efficiency: save up to 25%!
place! • Reduction of the floor space occupied by the machine. • Halogen heaters are completely off in rest position
• Fast: to produce all of that stuff by tomorrow! The plates fit in a limited room thanks to their telescopic (60% of the cycle time!)
• With memory: So it could remember all the settings of concept. Maximum range of adjustment in the minimum • Reflective panels and parabolas to dissipate the minimum
the last time you put in production that tool and the parts lay-out. of energy
where so nice and thick from such a thin sheet… • Possible automatic adjustment of the plates. • Servo motors for maximum efficiency
• Stable and precise: that could repeat itself at every cycle, The operator can memorise in the operating panel the
night and day, in summer and winter time… position of the plates and recall them during tool change. Do not make steps: take the Cannon Luce elevator!
• Flexible: vacuum or pressure forming, single sheet or Come and see it in production at our customers’ place.
double sheet, whichever thickness of whatever material! Also the upper clamp frame can be automatically adjusted (www.cannonforma.com)
• Eco-friendly: that makes use of the energy in a clever way! to the right position according to the mould and sheet size.
Cannon Forma Luce 3015, all-electric thermoforming machine with halogen heaters, for high-flexibility industrial thermoforming applications, handling sheets up to 3x1.5 m• Safe: designed and built with all safety criteria in mind!
…then keep reading this article. And this is coupled to the features we consider important on
With the Cannon system, also, do not make without all the the clamp frame: a blade to maximize the grip, possibility to • Heating: the best option today on the market is the
Speedium heating element. It gives its most on black, The new Luce - Italian for "light, brightness" - range of features you need: adjust the gripping locally along the perimeter, "L" shape of
orange peel surfaces of polyolefins, but generally its thermoforming machines by Cannon has been launched • Stepless, this system can be adjusted continuously along its the clamp frame to improve the heating in the perimeter of
successfully on the market. It's not a revolution, but an whole range without having to add any part or frame. the sheets, temperature control. outperforming ceramic and even quartz elements. What can I do with
evolution that starts deep inside from the roots. And your The top level of the plates is made in a way that the plastic • Adjustable centering system for the automatic sheet loader. At Cannon we have characterised the elements against
dream might become true! sheet lays flat on the gasket that seals the vacuum chamber. When this device is fitted, it is possible to automatically several material types and can suggest the best option.
The bottom level of the plates as well allows the mould to adjust the nominal position where the centering device • Cooling: chilled air can be added to standard or increased
completely seal this chamber. This makes the system tight positions the sheets from the stack of the pallet power of fans at variable speed, spray mist and local cooling Twin Sheet thermoforming?
for balloon blowing and for vacuum forming. • Servo motors. If these are fitted it is possible to adjust the
• Use the loading system that suites to your needs: stroke and speeds of the mould table and of the plug assist. Memory
carriage loader or chain transport system. Spike chains can If the machine remembers its settings (and you know how
transport and allow two sides pre-heating or even heating Shoe soles!Quick in tool change. many parameters there are in thermoforming and how fine
out of the forming station, in a dedicated heating station. Cannon can offer the following features to those who are must be the setting to get the right quality) then tool change
This feature is absolutely unique on the market, original and producing in small batches and need to change over the can be really quick: being able to recall the proper setting is the An American athletic sportswear manufacturer At present state-of-the-art thermoforming machines,
patented. No other builder of thermoforming machines is mould rapidly: only way to get a low part-to-part time. Using proportional makes some million shoes per year, half of it have to put inserts in twin sheet is not easy if not impossible
able to fit at the same time chain transport and adjustable an light sole, i.e. with a labyrinth cavity inside the as this technology requires a metal frame surrounding • All of above for adjustability. Adjustment makes things valves the operator can set the values and recall them at the
plates! sole filled with air to better absorb the impact of a the upper and lower sheets and acting as a spacer and quicker also because the machine can do it in hidden time next tool use. With servo movement one can store also speeds
• Temperature control of the plates. To avoid the machine foot slamming against the floor and also to keep its gripper between both sheets during the heating, blowing, (e.g. while the operator changes the pallet in the sheet (useful especially during mold extraction) and strokes.
getting too hot and to loose control of the perimetral edge spring longer. What's more, being lighter than a and forming process, and so preventing the placing of loader). Of course all the setting of the heating system can be saved as
of the parts and their flatness we can incorporate into the solid material, it increases the shoes performance, the inserts. We have therefore proposed a (patented) • Fast tool change system: automatic door opening, before with the Siemens heating controller.
adjustable plates channels to let water flow or, when the particularly crucial to runners worried about heavy original solution, holding the two plastic layers with no Adjustable plates for faster adaptation of moulds – a unique feature of the new automatic locking of the mould, automatic connection of shoes slowing them down. spacer. This solution offers the customer two advantages:
Cannon Forma Luce thermoformer. case, oil to temperature-control the perimeter close to the the mould to services (water or air). Stable and precise the sheet can be warmed up on both sides, and after
boundary of the plastic part. • Two common mould plates: one plate, many moulds. Proper machine design and construction can obtain good This air cushioning innovation has become the most forming, with the sheet still hot, a robot can move
Adjustable plates important competitive edge issue and all shoe inside and place the inserts. Each forming cycle can One plate in the machine with the mould in operation, results by protecting the mechanical parts from overheating
The main characteristics at the basis of this success are related manufacturers are fighting to find their own ideal produce some ten soles at the same time. All the above another one to mount the mould on off-line. during long shifts, but this is important also for stability of the
to the flexibility and efficiency in tool change, as is so solution on this specific subject. movements must occur very fast since plastic material • Loader: the platen slides out of the loader to position easily machine behaviour part after part.
important for the customers. Cannon have developed a new Because of customer's know-how and developments, the cools down rapidly. The complete package will be the pallet of the sheets. Our machine have heating reflectors to dissipate heat and
patented system already in production by different shoe soles have an high degree of technological and supplied to the customer's lab, but already running at • Double trolley for ergonomic mould-in mould-out, with mould box venting. Heat is reflected to the sheet while intellectual property contents. standard production speed.
customers around the world. Forget about the hassles of the mould pre-heating. heating; while the heaters do not work, heat is reflected back Shoe soles were mainly produced in the past using the The machine have several interesting features, like:
dedicated reduction plates and finding the room to store • Quick heaters for a fast change of the heating zoning to the heaters, with the double result of saving more energy injection moulding technology, by injecting gas inside • Twin sheet with internal inserts loading
them. Also no need of extra money invested in new tooling (halogen, Speedium or quartz heaters) and warming up less the machine. the sole material; alternatively by extrusion blow • Fully servo electric drives (high speed platen
whenever you have a new tool for production. moulding. movement: 1 m/s)
A few years ago the American company changed its • 50 tons closing forceFrom this point of view, it's worth to mention that halogen
This flexible system of plates slides to the desired mould size Fast product design by switching to the so-called “twin-sheet • Controls something like 700 process variableslamps can be switched on and off in seconds: this means that
from 100% of the machine maximum size to a minimum of Every movement in every second has been optimised. thermoforming” technique. With this technology, two • Sag control for upper and lower sheetin idle time they are completely off and avoid any heat build
almost 50%. No loose pieces to dedicate the aperture to the Tell us if speed is critical: we made moulds moving up to sheets of thermoplastic material are processed at the • Halogen heatersup. Ask us about this specific behaviour and we'll be able to
mould size, simply reload the receipt of the part in the 1,000 mm/s! Fast cycles are actually more affected by heating same time, formed and joined together to produce an • “live” close loop heating control system: the first in show you results and comparisons. Stability is also achieved
operator panel and the plates slide automatically. and cooling. hollow part. thermoforming. The machine corrects the heating when the performance of the heating system are completely To air cushion their shoe soles originally they used the deviation in real time based on the actual plastic
under control. “SF6”, a super-potent greenhouse gas belonging to the temperature (not through thermocouples reading the same CFC family, dangerous for the environment, but heating element temperature)!
which was ideal because of its large tightly bound Cannon can offer a "live" close loop control, based on the
molecules rarely leaking after being injected into the We like your engineering challenges in real temperature of the plastic sheet while heating.
plastic pocket attached to the heel. The reason why they thermoforming: come and talk to us of your project.This is something completely new: no more "close loop" on
switched to thermoforming technology was to replace
the next sheet with a thermo graphic scanner (that's not a real this large molecule gas with the safer air, that is not
close loop). harmful, but its smaller molecules break apart more
easily and leak. Should gas leak out of the shoe sole, the
The Cannon "live" close loop control can let the plastic sheet shoe would lose its performance. They have to use many technological thermoplastic based plastic
follow a preset curve of heating adapting the power of each layers sealed one to the other to get these results.
heating element independently to the real temperature of the With the injection moulding process you cannot do it,
plastic sheets in every instant during the heating cycle. neither with blow moulding. Instead the plastic layers,
In this way the operator is able to record the master curve of extruded in the right package of different plastic material,
heating of the best sample and the heating control will try to can be later sealed together with a twin-sheet
reproduce it on the next parts. thermoforming process to form the final shape.
Talking about stability and precision, the servo motor solution
are the best solutions to guarantee positions and speeds always How did Cannon Forma win the order?
repeatable. The idea became reality with Forma's expertise.
After making the plants to produce every day fuel tanks
to equip 2.600 Volkswagen Passats, Cannon is certainly Quicker set-up of new tools.
reputed as the specialist in twin sheet. Cannon software includes a number of friendly short cuts to
This in-line thermoformer for refrigerators can achieve very high productivity. make a new good part program in very short time. Try it!
20 21
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