an infrared oven at this temperature the plastic becomes soft the heated preform not shown is then placed inside the mold 12 and a blow nozzle 15 is lowered by an actuator such as the illustrated exemplary pneumatically operated linear actuator 28 or by a cam not shown sealing against the preform in the mold the actuator 28 or cam in the illustrated embodiment is operated by compressed gas 39 having a pressure of between about 3 bar and about 7 bar the gas is supplied to a respective chamber of actuator 28 via a 4 port valve 29 to move a piston 28 a air from the other unpressurized chamber is exhausted to atmosphere 49 through a check valve 48 once the preform is sealed inside the mold a stretch rod 27 is lowered at a specific mechanical rate for example with the same actuator 28 or with a different actuator not shown thereby stretching the preform to at least partially fill the mold cavity compressed air from exemplary air supply 17 is introduced through line 14 c a three way valve 16 line 14 a and blow nozzle 15 into the interior of the preform first at a relatively low pressure between about 6 and about 15 bar to evenly distribute the plastic inside the mold the three way valve may be cam or solenoid operated or energized by any suitable actuator known in the art once the preform is fully stretched the gas pressure is increased to between.