Regrind Problems

[Shorty]

OK, I'll try to keep this short as possible. We make parts for a company and they furnish all the regrind and color. The problem is
1 - Some of the regrind has what I call fluff and it clogs up the hose going to the hopper. If not there then is clogs up at the magnet or throat right before it going into barrel.

2 - Some of the regrind has metal in it, some times chopped up nails, bolts, screws, 5 gallon bucket metal handles, aluminum and maybe a couple others. We got magnets in the hoppers but some still gets by and clogs up the tip. The aluminum of course goes right by the magnet. We have got some that looks like someone dumped in a bunch wire brushes and ground them up because it sticks to the magnet like crazy and then it gets thru the tip and goes thru the manifold in into the parts.

3 - Some of it melts to some degree but not enough to make a part. I don't know what it is but we have tried to run it before at 700+ degrees but then it starts burning out heaters.

4 - Some sticks in mold very bad, we were told to use Calcium in to and that would keep it from sticking but it doesn't seem to work for us. Sometimes if we mix the stuff that sticks with some that don't, add Calcium and Zinc Stearate it will run.

5 - We do have a metal separator but it is not working that great, seems to work very slowly. For one, the hose is a smaller diameter that tube on the separator, second is maybe the vacuum isn't powerful enough.

One problem is we only get paid for the finish goods that are shipped. We don't get paid extra for doing all the extra work of mixing. We are not paid for the time the machines are down or to pay employee's that work on the machines when they go down because of the regrind they send.

I am just trying to get some feed back on what you guys think, what are some suggestions and what can we try to get this regrind to run.
They seem to think that we should have everything to make the bad regrind run good as new. I don't understand how they expect us to run it with so much metal in it and all the fluff and stuff that doesn't melt.

I work mostly in the office and personally don't have much experience working with the molding machines or plastics, however, I do go out there when they ask me to look at the regrind and see what it is doing because I communicate with the customer about quality and production.

Thanks,

[brentb]

Garbage in.....Garbage out!

You are in a losing situation. I have a friend with a molding company that ONLY runs regrind, but has invested in setting up his operation, including mentality for this. I hope that the parts are simple with wide tolerances.
Check out INCOE "nozzle filters and bunting hopper magnets.

KOM

brent

[rickbatey]

Pay for a S+S all metal detector/separator all rid yourself of ALL metals! There are means to de-dust the resin but it sounds like your getting anything and everything including the dregs off the floor!! Good luck to you!
Rick.

[JayDub]

You could look for a compounder who has metal and dust separators, send them the junk and the colorant and have them run the stuff through an extruder (with a melt filter to get rid of the high temp contaminants) and repelletize it for you. Or you could demand that the customer buy the separators and either clean the material themselves or provide you the equipment to do it properly. Or you could just make sure there’s enough padding in the part price to justify the scrap and headaches (not to mention the excessive wear and tear on your equipment).

Then again, in a class I took years ago, the instructor suggested that for a typical business 20% of the customers generate 110% of the profit. Sometimes it's wise just to call the customer and politely ask where they would like their molds shipped.