Patent ID: 8328546

Claim:
An injection molding apparatus for use with a molding machine comprising: an auxiliary injection unit for producing a melt stream of moldable material, the auxiliary injection unit having an extruder barrel with an extruder screw that is rotatably and slidably disposed therein; and a hot half of an injection molding system having a melt diverter component for receiving the melt stream from the extruder barrel and delivering the melt stream to a manifold for providing the melt stream to an injection molding nozzle that is in fluid communication with a mold cavity, the hot half of the injection molding system having a plurality of mold plates that are fastened to each other to hold the melt diverter component, the manifold and the nozzle of the hot half, wherein a length of the extruder barrel of the auxiliary injection unit that contains at least a portion of the extruder screw is positioned between at least two mold plates of the plurality of fastened mold plates to extend within the hot half of the injection molding system and wherein a downstream end of the extruder barrel remains mechanically connected to the melt diverter component during and between injection cycles.