The world’s smallest gravimetric blender now has a big brother with similar talents.

While the new MicroPlus blender from Maguire Products Inc accommodates processing machine throughputs of 100 to 350 pounds (45-160 kg) per hour instead of the 100-pound maximum of the widely used MicroBlender, it provides the same user-friendly features for reducing downtime during colour or job changeovers, the company announced at the 2006 edition of NPE, the world’s largest plastics exhibition, which was held in Chicago in June.
 Like the MicroBlender, the MicroPlus blender has four hoppers that are removable for quick cleanout and product changeover. The hoppers are typically used for natural resin, regrind, colour, and additive. While the dispensing systems in three of the hoppers are pneumatic vertical valves, there is a corner valve in the hopper for regrind, which sometimes flows poorly compared with other ingredients. “The vertical valves are particularly important for precise dispensing of minor ingredients like colorant, while the corner valve provides enhanced flow for bulk ingredients or materials that have large or variable particle sizes,” said B. Patrick Smith, vice president of marketing and sales.
 For machine configurations involving use of loaders mounted atop the blender, Maguire has developed an optional, patent-pending pneumatic system that further reduces changeover time by automatically lifting the hopper lids on which the loaders are mounted, easing the process of gaining access to the hoppers and to the bottom of the loaders.
 More than 4,000 MicroBlenders are now in operation, according to Smith, and Maguire recently enhanced the system by converting the hoppers to stainless steel for greater resistance to corrosion and surface damage, and by incorporating new-design vertical valves with greater resistance to jamming.  These improvements are also standard on the new MicroPlus blender.
 Another standard feature on the MicroPlus is a newly enhanced controller developed for the entire Maguire (R) line of blenders.