What Size Hydraulic Press Is Needed for Melamine Plates?

How do you choose the right hydraulic molding machine for melamine plate production without overspending on unnecessary tonnage or buying an underpowered machine that ruins your yield?

Many melamine tableware manufacturers focus only on plate diameter when selecting compression equipment, unaware that total projected mold area, product design and whether you run single-color or two-color recipes are the decisive factors. Pick the wrong press, and you will face blisters, incomplete filling, delamination, high reject rates and shorter mold service life.

With more than 20 years building excellent quality melamine compression molding machine for tableware factories worldwide, Shunhao Machines Factory delivers servo hydraulic presses with matched heating systems and professional mold trial support, helping tableware suppliers avoid costly sizing mistakes.

Food grade melamine compound requires stable molding pressure to flow evenly inside the mold, form a dense and smooth surface.

Two specs are frequently mixed up by buyers: clamping tonnage and platen size. Tonnage is the closing force to squeeze melamine powder into shape. Platen size is the flat surface where your mold mounts. Even if a press has enough tonnage, a too-small platen will stop you from installing multi-cavity molds.

The 300-ton press machine has been the top-selling product at Shunhao Factory.

• The 300-ton press is purpose-built for single-color melamine plates and small melamine tableware.
• Its generous 800×760 mm bed size offers outstanding flexibility, easily fitting many different mold dimensions and supporting high-cavity layouts to maximize output.
• What surprises many tableware factories is its competitive pricing: this 300T machine is priced lower than the 250T press with a 760×720 mm bed, delivering superior production capacity at a better investment level.

Shunhao Brand 350-ton compression machine is engineered for two-color melamine plates.

• Two-color molding involves a second powder feed and inlay structure, bringing higher internal resistance.
• It provides sufficient reserved clamping force for stable pressure holding in dual-stage feeding and curing.
• It prevents delamination, pattern blur and color bleeding for reliable inlay fusion.
• It pairs perfectly with two-color auxiliaries: powder weighing machines and preheaters.

Real-World Factory Case Study

Shunhao's customer, a melamine tableware manufacturer in Vietnam had been producing solid-color dinner plates on 250-ton press machine for years. Their output was limited, and they wanted to boost hourly capacity without switching to oversized, costly machinery. Their technical team first considered buying another 250-ton press and building a second production station, but the extra floor space and labor cost made the plan less attractive.

After reviewing their mold drawing and projected cavity area, Shunhao’s engineers recommended upgrading to a 300-ton hydraulic press for their single-color plate line. The 300T model’s 800×760 mm bed safely supported an extra mold for the same plate.

After installation and mold trial, their production output nearly doubled, cycle time stayed stable, reject rates dropped. This matched equipment layout helped them balance production efficiency, product quality and operating cost.

Selecting the right hydraulic press size for melamine plates is a balance between product range, cavity layout, production target and long-term operating cost.

If your core business is standard single-color dinner plates and high-cavity small melamine wares, the 300-ton model offers an efficient, cost-effective solution with exceptional mold flexibility.

If you plan to manufacture decorative two-color inlay melamine tableware, invest in a dedicated 350-ton moulding machine to keep reject rates low and product quality consistent.

Shunhao Factory provides standardized and custom auto melamine compress machines with pre-validated mold layout data, supporting manufacturers to avoid wrong tonnage selection before mold machining. Send your plate drawings, cavity plan and production targets to our technical team via Email: machine@hongancn.com for a free tonnage calculation and tailored press recommendation.

FAQ:

Q: What system of Shunhao molding machines?

A: Taiwan technology designed system for circuit and oil valves system.

Q: Are only green machine colors available?

A: No, Shunhao machines can use other colors printing for your machines. For example, Shunhao supplies the molding machines for European factory with white colors to meet their factory color matching.

Q: Does a larger platen size always mean higher tonnage requirement for melamine molds?

A: No. Platen size decides whether your mold can be installed; tonnage is determined by total projected cavity area and molding resistance.