A customer that I have worked with a few time called today. She went to our web site to order her normal Slide products. While she was there she noticed our tip assembly page.  She has always used and ordered a locking style tip assembly and wanted to know my opinion on the non locking style tip assemblies and what would be best for her process. I started by asking her what she like and disliked about the locking style tip she has been using. Her main complaint was that the locking style was hard to clean when they switched color on their material. She did like that the tip was very consistent.

Once I understood where she was. I recommended the three piece free flow design tip assembly. Out of all the tips it is the most forgiving on  most plastic materials, it generates less heat than a locking style. In the locking style the ring turns with the screw in a locked position. This generates a lot of shear heat  which can degrade the material and cause production issues with material such as polycarbonite, Asitel, clear Acrylics and any other heat sensitive material . In the non-locking style  tip assembly the ring  floats instead of being locked in the retaining head. The three piece free flow is also easier to clean because there are a lot less hang up points for material in the design.