Used Plastic Auxiliary Equipment for Sale

Browse Meadoworks' extensive inventory of used plastic auxiliary equipment essential for any molding or extrusion operation. Our selection includes material dryers (desiccant, hot air, vacuum), chillers and temperature controllers, granulators and grinders, material loaders and conveyors, blenders and feeders, mold temperature controllers, and hot runner systems. We stock auxiliary equipment from Novatec, Conair, Motan, Wittmann, Una-Dyn, Advantage, Mokon, Cumberland, Rapid, Foremost, Maguire, and other industry leaders. Proper auxiliary equipment is critical for part quality—material moisture affects surface finish and mechanical properties, while temperature control impacts cycle times and dimensional stability. Every listing includes detailed specifications and condition reports. Whether you're setting up a new processing cell or upgrading existing equipment, Meadoworks offers auxiliary solutions at every budget level. We ship worldwide and can help you spec equipment for your specific resin and throughput requirements.

Browse used plastic auxiliary equipment for sale from top manufacturers.

Auxiliary equipment is sized to throughput, not to the press tonnage. Start with pounds per hour: shot weight × shots per hour (cavities ÷ cycle time) gives the material rate each machine consumes. A resin dryer needs hopper capacity equal to that rate multiplied by the resin's drying time — four hours for nylon or PET means a 50 lb/hr process needs roughly a 200 lb hopper. Vacuum loaders are rated in lb/hr at a given conveying distance, so check the run from the dryer or gaylord to the throat.

Cooling is sized in tons of refrigeration. A common rule of thumb is about one ton of chiller capacity for every 30–40 lb/hr of resin processed, more for thin-wall or fast-cycle molds and hot climates. Mold temperature controllers (thermolators) are chosen by heater kW, pump flow and maximum temperature — water units top out around 250°F, oil units run hotter for engineering resins. Gravimetric blenders are sized by the number of components and total throughput.

For desiccant dryers, confirm the unit reaches its rated dew point (typically -40°F), check desiccant age and the regeneration heater, and inspect hoppers and hoses for contamination. For chillers, ask for the refrigerant type, compressor hours, and whether the unit is air- or water-cooled — water-cooled chillers need a tower or city water, air-cooled units need clearance and ventilation. For thermolators, test heater and pump operation, check for leaks at seals and fittings, and confirm the control reads accurately.

On robots and sprue pickers, check the stroke and payload against your mold and parts, confirm the mounting pattern and interface (Euromap 12/67 or SPI) match your press, and review the controller's program storage. For hot runner controllers, count the zones you need and confirm the thermocouple type (J or K) and connectors match your molds.

Plant closings often sell a press with its dryer, blender, loaders, thermolators, robot and conveyor — a matched cell that already ran together. Buying the set can save sizing work and rigging trips, but check each unit's condition individually and confirm voltages match your plant. Browse auxiliary lots in upcoming auctions alongside the injection molding machines, or tell us what you need and we'll look for a matching cell.

A molding cell is built around one press and one mold. Resin has to arrive dry, at the right blend, and the steel has to sit at a setpoint while the screw recovers. That package is a desiccant dryer or a portable dryer, a vacuum loader, sometimes a hopper or gaylord tilter, a gravimetric blender or a color feeder, a water temperature controller or a hot oil unit, a portable chiller, and either a sprue picker or a servo robot. Each of those has its own page because the sizing rules are not the same.

An extrusion line is a different set of machines. The extruder still wants dry, blended resin, so dryers, loaders and blenders are needed again. After the die the line wants a cooling tank or a chill roll, a puller, and a cutter or a winder. Pelletizing lines add a strand pelletizer or an underwater cutter. Putting a sprue picker on an extruder does nothing. Putting a puller on a molding press does nothing. Buy the package that matches the process, then open the chip page for the one machine you are short.

Central systems change the picture again. One drying plant and one conveying loop can feed several presses or several extruders. That is a different purchase from a dryer bolted to a single throat. Read the centralized section below before you buy five press-side cabinets out of habit.

A few ratios keep the first pass honest, and they are guidance, not a guarantee. Dryer hopper volume is throughput times the hours the resin needs to stay in the hopper. A loader is rated for a distance, not just a nameplate rate, so measure the run from the gaylord or the dryer to the throat. Chiller tons follow the heat the molds and the hydraulics actually dump, including every machine on that loop. A water temperature controller is sized by heater kilowatts and by pump flow through the waterlines in the tool, not by press tonnage. When those four numbers are in hand, the chip pages are where the brands and the inspection points live.

Beside-the-press equipment is a cabinet with one job and a short hose. A portable dryer, a press-side thermolator, a small granulator and a vacuum loader can be moved when the mold moves. They are the right buy for a job shop, a cell that changes resins often, and any plant that does not want one failure to stop every machine. The cost is duplication. Five presses can mean five pumps, five filters and five controllers to keep honest.

A central system puts the drying, the conveying or the chilling in one place and pipes it out. It earns its floor space when several machines run the same resin family all week, and when someone on staff will own the loop. Central dryers, central conveying and a central chiller are separate decisions. You can centralize water and leave drying at the press, which is common. You should not centralize a resin that only one press runs.

Hoppers and bins sit between those choices. They hold material so a loader is not starving the throat every few minutes. Gaylord tilters are the version of that problem for boxes on the floor. Name the distance and the resin before you pick a loader. A loader rated for a short hop will not pull from a mezzanine.

Cabinets, frames and pump housings outlast the parts that touch heat and plastic. On a dryer the desiccant, the regeneration heater and the hoses are the wear items. On a thermolator the heater, the shaft seal and the exchanger are the wear items. On a chiller the compressor and the refrigerant circuit are the wear items, and the refrigerant type decides who can still service it. On a granulator the knives, the screen and the bearings are the wear items. On a robot the belts, the grease and the controller generation matter more than the arm casting.

Controls are the other aging part. A cabinet whose board is still supported is a different buy from a cabinet whose display is a blank green line. Voltage has to match the cell. A 230 volt auxiliary next to a 460 volt press is a transformer, not a bargain. Mixing brands in one cell is normal. Mixing a loader that speaks one protocol with a dryer that speaks another is fine if a person can still start them. It is not fine if you expected one screen to run the whole cell.

None of this is a dollar figure. Condition and fit decide whether a used piece is cheaper than a new one after the repair. Inspect the wear item that actually fails on that machine, and read the nameplate before you compare two brands.

Meadoworks has bought and sold plastics plants for decades, and auxiliary equipment leaves those plants with the presses. A closure often includes the dryer, the loaders, the thermolators, the robot and the chiller that already ran as a cell. That is useful because the voltages and the hose sizes were solved once. It is not a reason to skip inspection. Each cabinet stands on its own, from desiccant dryers and vacuum loaders to water temperature controllers, portable chillers, beside-the-press granulators and servo robots.

We document capacity and configuration on the listing, and buyers can inspect before they commit. When a cell moves, rigging and trucking are coordinated with the machines rather than as a second project for a loose cabinet. If the listing you opened is the wrong size, say so. We would rather point you at another dryer, loader or thermolator in the same family than stretch a nameplate that does not fit. Call 800-323-0307 or send a note with the resin, the throughput and the voltage, and we will say whether the unit you are looking at fits or whether another one in the same family does. We do not guess a brand you have never run if a different cabinet matches the nameplate you actually need.