AN AUTOMATIC AIR AND WATER DOCKING SYSTEM FOR A MOLDING MACHINE

摘要

An automatic docking system for an injection molding machine (10) having a mold. The docking system includes a moldset (28) with a core plate (148), a guide (206) on each side of the core plate (148) and moldset guides (174) on a face of the mold. The moldset guides (174) cooperate with the core plate guides (206) to load the moldset (28) into the machine (10). A water manifold (120) is mounted in the mold and a plurality of water connections (118) extend from the manifold (120) toward a moldset (28) to be mounted in the machine (10). An air channel is provided in each moldset guide (174). A core plate separation block (142) is attached to a top end of each core plate guide (174). Air channels extend through the core plate (148) and the core plate separation blocks (142). Each separation block (142) includes an air opening (138) for engaging an air opening (144) on a moldset guide (174) when the moldset (28) is loaded into the machine (10). The core plate guides (206) and moldset guides (174) guide the moldset (28) into the machine (10) and guide water connections in the moldset (28) into sealing connection with the water connections in the manifold (120) and the air openings (138) on the separation block (142) into sealing connection with the air openings (144) on the moldset guides(174) when the moldset (28) is fully installed in the machine (10).