Anders Svensson, Manager of Extrusions dies at Profilgruppen in Sweden has answered my first 3 questions about the perfect extrusion die.

Thank you Anders for participating in my blog since you have an extended experience in the process of extrusion die making. Your were one of my mentors when I started working in this industry and thanks to you I have learned a lot and have understood that we live in a process and that it’s better to work smart then hard.

So thank you Anders for sharing your point of view with us.

1. When do you consider an extrusion die to be successful?

Answer: It’s a die which has good performance in dimensions, surface and production speed. If I’ve control of these three issues I automatically reach low knock off rates and a good die life.

2. What is the most important FACTOR or factors in the process of manufacturing a successful die?

Answer: For me it’s several factors. One is the communication with the die supplier.

The supplier must understand my needs regarding design, steel, heat treatment etc. Feedback to the die supplier, not only from the trial but also feedback after the die is scrapped.

Another important issue is that I must be extremely aware about the condition on my presses concerning temperature of the billets, container, die and exit temperature of the profiles as well as the pressure during one billet cycle.

After that I must say the design is the main issue because it’s the reason I can have a good production speed, good quality of surface, good dimensions.

3. When a die fails in production, what would you consider to be the moat common cause?

Answer: To find the main course for a die failure you have to analyze very deep.

Is it a new die or old die?

The dimension report from the trial and the last orders. Production parameters like temperatures, pressure, stoppages, production speed. Maintenance issues like condition of linear, blocks, cleaning blocks etc.

The die correctors (die supplier), the press operators and the maintenance people must work together in order to get results. When we start to work like this we reduced our knock off rates a lot.

Want to contact Anders directly?

ProfilGruppen Extrusions

AB Box 36, SE-364 21

Åseda E-mail: Anders.Svensson@profilgruppen.se

Tel: +46 474 55080 Fax: +46 474 71128

www.profilgruppen.se

Anders Svensson, Manager of Extrusions dies at Profilgruppen in Sweden