A method and apparatus for additive manufacturing that includes a material guide for directing a supply of working material. An advancement mechanism comprising one or more pistons, pushers, plungers and/or pressure regulation systems are positioned behind at least a portion of the supply of working material for advancing the working material forward. The working material is heated using an electro-magnetic heating element and the melted or molten working material is deposited from a tip positioned at an end of the material guide.

In an aspect, infilling includes one or more the following characteristics: (i) adjacent rows and columns, which may be overlapping or non-overlapping; (ii) no sharp angle turns, i.e., no turns of ninety degree or less; and (iii) intersecting between infill patterns occurs from layer to layer (i.e., at offset z-axis positions). An infilling technique may also or instead include rotating the infill pattern about ninety degrees in some alternating fashion from layer to layer.

A method for manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament, the method comprising: (1) reducing a chamber pressure within a chamber to below about 5 millibars; (2) after reducing the chamber pressure to below about 5 millibars, providing a polymer melt to the chamber; (3) separating the polymer melt into at least eight streams; (4) while the at least eight streams of the polymer melt are within the chamber, exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars; (5) after exposing the at least eight streams of the polymer melt to the chamber pressure of below about 5 millibars, recombining the at least eight streams into a single polymer stream; and (6) forming polymer from the single polymer stream into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament that includes providing a polymer melt and separating the polymer melt from the extruder into at least eight streams. The multiple streams are exposed to a chamber pressure within a chamber that is below approximately 5 millibars. The streams are recombined into a single polymer stream and formed into bulked continuous carpet filament.

A heating element for flow channel heating or for heating a mould impression and an injection-moulding nozzle incorporating the heating element are disclosed. The heating element has a carrier element which carries a heating conductor with first and second connection pins, and a connection device with an electrical connection cable with first and second conductors. The first and second connection pins end in an insulator. The insulator is arranged at least in certain portions in a receiving sleeve of the connection device, and the receiving sleeve points with a first end in the direction of the carrier element, is fixed with the first end on the carrier element and fixes the insulator in relation to the carrier element. A first crimping sleeve is fixed on the first connection pin and the first conductor, and a second crimping sleeve is fixed on the second connection pin and the second conductor.

An extruder of a three-dimensional printer may be coupled with one or more filament tubes, each filament tube having its own supply of filament. The extruder may include a drive gear rotatable in a first direction to advance a filament from a filament tube toward at least one extrusion opening defined by the extruder and rotatable in a second direction, opposite the first direction, to advance another filament from a different filament tube toward the at least one extrusion opening defined by the extruder. Also, as one filament is advanced by the drive gear, another filament may be retracted by the drive gear to improve the switching of filaments in a three-dimensional printing process. The extruder may work in conjunction with a filament supply-side drive system that feeds filament into one or more filament tubes, reducing a pull force exerted by the drive gear of the extruder.

Injection molding apparatuses and methods wherein a valve pin is controllably driven upstream and downstream along an axis between a first closed position where the tip end of the valve pin obstructs the gate to prevent the injection fluid from flowing into the cavity, a full open position and one or more intermediate positions, wherein the valve pin is drivable to be disposed or held in a selected intermediate position for a selected period of time during the course of an injection cycle where the tip end of the valve pin restricts flow of injection fluid through the gate to the mold cavity.

Additional injection modular system applicable in any process for molding parts or products by polymer injection is provided, wherein injecting one or more parts or products with a single material or a plurality of polymer materials requiring separate, simultaneous or sequential complementary injections becomes necessary in addition to the injection of a base material processed in a conventional injection machine. The system has a module configurable in both composition and dimension with optimized rheological and energy behavior which is installed between the closure assembly plates of the base machine and the mold, comprising a frame, front mold clamping plate, structure clamping plate, structure spacer blocks, at least one additional injection assembly, at least one additional injection nozzle and injection nozzle extension. The system herein can be used in the production of parts by injection processes generally designated as multi-component injection.

A method and apparatus for performing an injection molding cycle comprising drivably interconnecting a valve pin to an electric motor actuator and controllably operating the electric motor to drive the valve pin at one or more reduced rates of upstream or downstream travel based on either detection of the position of the pin or actuator or on a preselected length of time at which to drive the valve pin.

The invention is directed to a crosshead die for the extrusion of a profile, such as a uniform ply coat for a tire. The crosshead die is used with an extruder, and includes a body. An inlet is formed in the body, and is in fluid communication with the extruder. An outlet and a flow channel are also formed in the body. The flow channel extends between the inlet and the outlet, and is bounded by an upper wall, a lower wall, a first side wall, and a second side wall. The flow channel is formed with a bend and a cross section that includes a trapezoidal shape to align the flow of elastomer with the center of the flow channel.