Need assistance optimizing your extrusion design or deciding which material is the best fit for your application? Omega is pleased to offer our design experience and technical capability with the latest extrusion methods and thermoplastic materials to help you make good decisions. Using our engineering resources early in your design phase can reduce your short-term and long-term costs by:

• Optimizing profile design for extrusion

Design and function analysis can offer valuable suggestions to reduce cost or improve the functionality of your profile. We would be happy to discuss your needs and specific application to better serve you. Here are a few important points to consider.

 

Uniform wall thickness

Where possible, uniform wall thickness should be designed into the extrusion. Due to the fluid nature of plastic as it exits the extruder, uneven wall thickness can cause irregular material flow issues. To control profile dimensions and prevent bowing or warping, these issues must be compensated for in the tooling design and manufacturing process. The result is typically higher tooling costs and a reduced production rate.

Dimensional Tolerances

Special consideration must be given to dimensional tolerance control due to the varying nature of thermoplastic materials. Often, design engineers experienced with metal tolerance guidelines apply the same dimensional expectations to plastic profile design. This can lead to increased tooling costs and slower production rates to meet tolerance demands. In many cases, such demanding tolerances are not required for the application and are simply "standard" tolerances to the engineer. By analyzing the end use of the profile, profile design, mating parts and material characteristics, Omega can work with you to determine the optimum dimensional set to provide you with consistent quality and reduced cost.

• Recommending a thermoplastic material that is the best fit for your application

With the advancement of thermoplastic materials and the sheer number of material options available to you, making the right material choice can be a daunting task. Our experience with numerous materials, both traditional and engineered, and our efforts to stay at the forefront of new material developments offer you a valuable resource to use in making the best material choice for your extrusion application. Rather than pushing you towards inferior or reprocessed materials that increase our margin, we can help you choose the best material to consistently meet your appearance, dimensional, and price objectives.

 

• In-house die and fabrication tool design

Our complete in-house die and tooling shop reduces your profile development time and helps keep development costs low.

• Use of vacuum calibration

Once the melt comes out of the extrusion die, vacuum calibration blocks are used hold the profile to dimensional specifications while the profile cools. Omega designs and implements vacuum calibration tooling in the manufacturing process to precisely control dimensional tolerances and increase production rates.

 

• Offering both in-line and off-line fabrication options

A key benefit of the extrusion process is the ability to perform fabrication operations, such as punching, printing, or tape application, in-line eliminating many secondary operations which required extra labor, equipment, and handling at your facility. For operations that cannot be done in-line, Omega is still able to offer a value added service by performing off-line operations economically and providing you with a quality finished part.

• Optimizing surface finish and color

Enhance the appearance of your profile by matching specific color, gloss, emboss, or print specifications.       

• Developing prototype tooling for concept testing

Need a prototype extrusion to test your concept for a new product? Prototype tooling can be more economical, timely, and provide adequate samples for testing provided exact print dimensions are not necessary. Prototype tooling is also an excellent way to compare the same profile in different material options.