PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2015

BOTTLE MAKING 24 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 04/15 www.petpla.net 1, 2 or 3 cavities in a single line 3,2,1 cavities in a single line, Ms Heidi Amsler Sales & Marketing at Amsler Equipment Inc. For over two decades, W. Amsler Equipment has been building all-electric linear stretch blow moulding machines in Canada with 1 to 4 cavities. Their design allows a machine to run smaller bottles in all of their cavities and larger bottles in fewer cavities. According to Heidi Amsler, Sales & Market- ing, Amsler’s headquarters location permits a uniquely close relationship with their North American customers. Their service component was recently expanded by the absorp- tion of the service side of Mag-Plastic stretch blow moulding equipment. Amsler also supplies leak detectors and dome trimmers used to make blown-thread containers and other special finishes. Since 1994 W. Amsler Equipment Inc. has been designing and building all-electric PET stretch blow moulders, empty bottle leak testers and dome spin trimmers in Ontario, Canada. Amsler’s machines are designed by Werner Amsler, who previously, for many years, owned and operated his own extrusion blow moulding company, thus thoroughly understanding custom- er’s equipment and support needs. Since 2010, Amsler has been supplying its L32 convertible 3-cavity machine which the user can also run in 2- or 1-cavity modes to make bottles from 50ml to 5litres. Motions, including clamp opening and closing and stretch-rod actuation, are pow- ered and controlled by servo motors for speed and accuracy. The clamp is compensated by the high-pressure blow air eliminating the chance of the mould opening under pressure. Preforms are positively loaded onto the carriers by grippers and bottles are unloaded by a variable-height assembly that compensates for the bottle height so the takeaway con- veyor height need not be changed. In the single lane ovens, preforms are heated neck-down. Multiple sales of this flexible machine have reflected the practicality of the design. Service for Mag Lines The Amsler linear machines can accept moulds made for competitors’ machines, including Mag-Plastic. With quick reversible modifications the moulds can normally run in both the Amsler and the Mag-Plastic machines, so customers don’t have to create new moulds if they buy an Amsler. This represents an important step towards being able to offer Amsler lines as replacements for the popular Mag-Plastic lines which are no longer being built. By taking over services from Mag-Plastic, Amsler have also succeeded in unlocking the door to direct contact with former Mag-Plastic customers. Replacement of PC by PET Amsler has supplied single-cavity PET stretch blow moulders for the 3- and 5-gallon PET water dispenser bottles since 2006. This sector has been given a clear boost due to the discussion about BPA in PC contain- ers and the growth of one-way water delivery. Here, the company is plan- ning, during the course of the year, to introduce a new 2-cavity line that is specially designed for these types of containers. The traditional Amsler leak tester can be equipped with a wall thickness checking device, choked neck inspec- tion, a top load tester or a colour-con- tent measuring system. Depending on the inspection to be performed and the output requirement the test head is sta- tionary or mounted as a “flying-head” system where the test head follow- ing the container along the conveyor. In the very high performance range a number of heads may be used. In 2014 a new manual pressure- decay leak tester was introduced for the 3 and 5 gallon returnable bottle market. The traditional devices used for checking leaks operate at slight overpressure, which does not always represent the most expedient solution as far as the 3 and 5 gallon containers are concerned. On the extrusion blow moulded PC containers in particular, the long welded seam on the base of View into the heart of the 3,2,1- cavity line