Slowed Down By Stuck Plastic Parts
Slowed Down By Stuck Plastic Parts
Here’s a Quick and Easy Solution!
Rib Pullers
A Rib Puller is a special tool for pulling out the stuck, broken off, or jammed plastic in the deep slot or rib that is in many injection molds. Once the plastic is stuck and breaks off in the rib, you need to find a way to get it out to resume production as down time is costly.
Historically the mold repair or tool room repair guy would either try to remove the stuck plastic in the press or shut the press down and take the mold out of the press and move it to the tool repair room. Short of scraping out the plastic, pieces of hack saw blades, or flattened screws were used which took time to make and could easily scratch up the tool surface, causing a bigger problem.
The Rib Puller comes in three sizes, RP112 at 1 ½”, RP234 at 2 ¾” and RP4 at 4” for deeper ribs, and is made of brass. Brass is very forgiving in that it heats up easily, retains the heat and is a soft metal to prevent scratching up the surface of the tool. You would keep these stocked for “that day” when a piece of plastic gets jammed or breaks off in the rib, shutting down production and needs to be removed. You heat up the rib puller with a propane torch, push the hot rib puller into the plastic which melts around the rib puller as it is inserted. When the plastic has cooled enough, you pull it and the stuck plastic out with a pair of plyers. You then check the rib to see if further cleaning or polishing is needed to insure plastic does not get stuck again and put the tool into production. With perhaps a good spray of Slide Mold Release.
HOW TO: HEAT RIB PULLER - EMBED INTO PLASTIC PIECE, LET COOL AND PULL OUT THE STUCK RIB.
