The Customer:

Customers with technically demanding products

The Task:

Making golfballs

The Problem:

Combining different materials and technologies

The Solution:

SkinForm technology combining injection moulding, reaction moulding and automation

The Outcome:

The new SkinForm technology is a joint development by the three KraussMaffei divisions. Golfball production using this technology was shown at the K2004 The golfball cores are supplied to a KR15 industrial robot, installed on the floor on the non-operator side which picks one up and places it in one cavity of a 4-cavity mould. The integrated vacuum system holds the cores exactly in position. The mould is mounted in the clamp of a KM 65 KraussMaffei's C series. In the next two process steps, the golfball cores are coated with polyurethane, one side at a time. A second robot on the operator side picks out the finished ball and brush cleans the empty cavity. The gripper then hands the ball to a separate station for sprue cutting. Next the balls are handed to a deflashing station where the seam between the two halves of the PUR skin is smoothed. Finally the two-colour logo is printed on the ball in a third station. This is a fully-automated production cell for applying and finishing the PUR SkinForm coating.