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Author
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Topic: Wax extruding
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Bagger
Member Posts: 4
From:Escondido, Ca, USA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted January 03, 2006 08:32 PM
   
Hello out there,
Just found the website and what a neat site. I am in a manufacturing plant which uses molded wax blocks, shipped to us. We are looking to make our own blocks, or inject them directly into our product which is a type of plastic bag. We can buy the wax in large quantity, either blocks or liquid.
Does anyone have any experience with wax or have any ideas how we could do this with the solid blocks. Screw extrusion sounds great to us. Is it feesible? Or should I ask, is it cost effective?Thanks for any help or ideas. ------------------
Mike Sorensen
Msorensen@fyienterprises.net
(760)480-9736 IP: Logged |
Tom C
Moderator Posts: 674
From:Brodheadsville, PA USA
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted January 05, 2006 09:52 AM
Wax has a lower viscosity than is typically handled by a screw extruder. Try a melting pot and gear pump setup.Tom C
IP: Logged |
Bagger
Member Posts: 4
From:Escondido, Ca, USA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted January 05, 2006 10:07 AM
Thanks for your reply. We were hoping to keep the paraffin in somewhat solid form during the process. Total liquid would not work in our application due to the cooling period required(approx. 15 min.) For this reason we are searching a solution to allow a semi solid transfer.
Could a gear pump with designed large tolerance pump congealed paraffin without total liquification? I've had experience in liquid movement, just not pasty type consistencies.
Thanks again and any other thoughts would be appreciated.------------------
Mike Sorensen
Msorensen@fyienterprises.net
(760)480-9736 IP: Logged |
Tom C
Moderator Posts: 674
From:Brodheadsville, PA USA
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted January 05, 2006 02:23 PM
Seems like your walking a fine line. Most pumps (screw pumps included) will heat high viscosity fluids though viscous disipation. Perhaps if you can cool the fluid after the pump it would help with the cool time. Tom C
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Bagger
Member Posts: 4
From:Escondido, Ca, USA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted January 05, 2006 04:09 PM
What are the cool times for most plastics after screw extruding? I understand thickness and application will affect cool times. Let's assume that we are exruding a 1/2 inch square bar. I think that the cool to solid time for paraffin is in the 12-14 minute range.
Are you familiar with any cooler/cooling systems that would be beneficial? Paraffin is a great insulator and we have the situation of a skin forming and it actually keeps the center liquid for 5-6 minutes, then requiring the hardening of the gelatenous wax.
This is a great site. Thanks for your responses, and best wishes.IP: Logged |
Tom C
Moderator Posts: 674
From:Brodheadsville, PA USA
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted January 07, 2006 08:37 AM
I would first tend to try something like this;Do some studies on the wax to determine its melt point and viscosity characterisitcs. Pick a temperature at which the wax is cool enough, but still flows as a fluid. Lets call this the target temperature. Heat the wax up to a low viscosity fluid.
Gravity feed a gear pump for pressure generation. All pipe and gear pump need to be heated. After the gear pump, pump the wax through a long copper tube coil in a temperature controlled water bath to obtain the target temperature. The water bath should be maintained at the target temperature so as to keep the wax from hardening up in the tube. The tube may need to be very long in order to have enough resisdence time for enough heat transfer to occur. This is due to the fact that the water is likely to be hot. You may need to temperature control the lines from the water bath to the fill station. A standard gear pump may not have enough capability to overcome the flow resistence in the copper tube coils, so it needs to be sized with that consideration. Good luck, Tom C
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Bagger
Member Posts: 4
From:Escondido, Ca, USA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted January 09, 2006 09:08 AM
Hello Tom,
Thanks for the info. I will be looking very hard at this process. I'm not sure I understand the site perfectly. This is under Mrs. Robiinson's Retreat. Do all visitors see this portion of the site? Should I post this message to a different spot to get some additional visibility?Thanks again for your help. Nice to know there are some generous friendly people out there.
Mike IP: Logged |
Tom C
Moderator Posts: 674
From:Brodheadsville, PA USA
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted January 09, 2006 09:32 AM
Mrs. Robinson is designed for social conversation, but some use it for general postings.There is a wax specific forum below. Good luck. Tom C
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