METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONSECUTIVELY MOLDING DIFFERENTLY COLORED PARTS

摘要

A method is disclosed for molding a consecutive stream of differently and homogeneously colored parts in a single mold (32). The method comprises supplying molten resin to a selected one of a plurality of resin passages (22a-d), injecting colorant selected from a plurality of different colorants into the resin passage (22a-d), mixing the molten resin and colorant in a mixing element (28a-d) disposed in the resin passage (22a-d) to form a mixture of selectively colored resin, injecting the mixture into the single mold (32) to form a part from the selectively colored resin, and repeating the process by selecting a different resin passage and a different colorant. By this method, differently colored parts can be molded without purging the resin passages (22a-d) between the molding of the parts. An apparatus for practicing the method is also disclosed.