Abstract
Soft capsule machine can produce a variety of shapes of soft capsules mainly rely on the mold. It mean that mold of softgel making machine is the core component.
This article mainly introduces the soft capsule machine mold structure, working principle, installation, use, maintenance and so on.
1. Structure:
Soft capsule machine molds have different size according to the brand and type of the main machine. Die sizes normally range from 60 mm to 300 mm. The bigger the die, the greater capacity of production at the same speed.
The whole set of mold is composed of two pairs of rolling dies, a distribution plate, an injection wedge and a connecting gear.
The two pairs of rollers are the exact same. But in order to distinguish the die, the letters L and R are engraved on the die terminal. So you don’t make a mistake during the installation. A pair of rolling die need to go through more than 20 processes to finish. Then packed in specific box and delivered to the user.
Each process will need skilled workers that have more than three years experience. To ensure the precision and accuracy of the mould.
Die cavity can be customized according to the requirements of the user. With our 20 years of experience in mold making,we will give reasonable advice and design. The most important design work should be with reasonable die cavity size, the number of steps, the chamfer size and other important parameters according to the soft capsule production process, the filling material, the type softgel making machine, the gelatin quality, the thickness of the ribbon.
Our mold unique advantage: special design, the mold has the fixed slide, the mold two ends have the fixed curve for alignment confirmation. Cavity spacing is reasonable.
For details, please refer to our technical information sharing site.
Injection wedge. The distribution plate is in a fixed format, depending on the equipment and injection wedge specifications. So the wedge is the key.
Wedge according to the heating way divided into electric heating injection wedge, water heating injection wedge. According to the injection hole at the bottom, it can be divided into bottom injection wedge and side injection wedge. The main requirement of wedge is that the temperature should be heated evenly and response quickly.
Therefore, an important index of soft capsule equipment is the accuracy of temperature control for injection wedge. Therefore, we have designed many types of injection wedge and quality improvement. For details, see our web site’s sharing technology article on
2. How it works:
Soft capsule ribbon is the use of a mold extrusion gelatin ribbon formed in the middle of the cavity, and then inject quantitative material into the cavity. Then fresh soft capsule is get out from cavity. This is the basic working principle of the mould. Against this principle, It’s not hard to see. The key points for making soft capsules are two points,
First die extrusion, cutting should be good and accurate. If the design of important parameters such as cutting step height and cutting chamfer is not reasonable, the capsule seam may be too thin or too thick, and the capsule seam may have double lips, which can not form a complete capsule shape directly.
The timing of the injection should be precise. If it’s too early, the volume will increase. Too late, the loading volume is smaller. There are different ways to adjust the injection time according to the soft capsule machine. Gear transmission equipment needs to be manually adjusted, which requires experienced staff adjustment. If the soft capsule machine is driven by servo motor, it can be automatically adjusted by PLC touch screen.
Like our model JL150II, JL250III, JL300II, is driven by Siemens servo motor, it can achieve automatic alignment of the mold, automatic adjustment of injection time. Reduce the effect of manual error on product quality
3. Install
Different manufacturers of equipment for the mold installation location is not the same. But according to the principle of the soft capsule machine, the general specifications used in the mould installation are the same. The main points are as follows
when installing the mold, distinguish the front and back of the mold, the front and back of the injection wedge, and the front and back of the distribution plate.
Based on this point, we produce the mold will be on the front of the mold engraved words, user-friendly distinction. And the mold is divided into about, lettering with L and R. It’s easy to tell the difference.
Adjust the mould alignment after the mould is installed. The two molds need to be perfectly aligned. If the mold is not aligned, Just run machine, then the mold will have the phenomenon of the wrong line. In the worst case, the mold will die. In view of the changing operation steps, we have designed the special groove structure in the die end face. It also comes with a tool to check if the alignment is ok or not. As shown in the image below. This is a good solution to the mold alignment problem
Adjustment of the injection position. Depending on the material, the injection of the wedge will be placed in different positions of the mould. If the oil, position is above the centre of the mould cavity, or if the material is suspended, it will be placed below the centre of the mould.
Injection time adjustment. The filling time varies a little according to the type of equipment. But much the same. The aim of the injection time adjustment is to start the injection when the plunger is just about to be injected. Make sure all the material goes into the center of the mold cavity. If the timing is wrong, sooner or later, the material will be injected outside the cavity. Result in material waste and cross-contamination.
This is the same as the previous point. That is, gear-driven equipment needs to be manually adjusted, which requires experienced staff adjustment. If the soft capsule machine is driven by servo motor, it can be automatically adjusted by PLC touch screen. If our model JL150II, JL250III, JL300II, is driven by Siemens servo motor, can achieve automatic alignment of the mold, automatic adjustment of feeding time. Reduce the effect of manual error on product quality.
Complete the four steps above. We can officially start the soft-capsule compression process
4. Die maintenance:
A mold maintenance is also required after each batch production.
Cleaning process: use hot water to wash the mold several times. If there is too much oil, clean the mold with neutral detergent. Then rinse several times with purified water. There can’t be any residue on the detergent.
Can also use ultrasonic cleaning machine to mold, injection wedge and other mechanical parts for cleaning. Note strictly prohibit the use of acid, alkaline detergent cleaning mold. This will result in mold oxidation, which makes the grinding tool scrap.
Drying process: After cleaning, use Compressed air to blow and dry the remaining water on the surface of the mold. The residual water on the mold surface or in the mold cavity is then dried using an oven or a hair dryer. Make sure there’s no residual water. Residual water may cause corrosion and oxidation to the mold surface.
Drying a good mold, need to smear lubricant, prevent the air humidity is too large or other corrosive liquid on the mold oxidation corrosion around. The lubricant can be applied to both the surface and the internal cavity of the mold.
The cleaning process needs to take the mold, wedge and other parts gently. To prevent injuries and damage.
For the convenience of the user cleaning mold. Our company is currently developing automatic ultrasonic mold cleaning machine. Automatic cleaning, automatic addition of cleaning reagents, automatic spraying, automatic drying, automatic spraying lubricating oil and other functions. Users only need to put the mold into the washing machine, set a good program, then finished and take it out.
