Profile Precision Extrusions

March in Arizona means Spring Training baseball, Spring Break visitors, 80 degree weather & golf. For Profile Precision Extrusions March 2012 also means a brand new building. We’re doubling our total footprint to 40,000 sq. ft. In addition to significant investment in our own building we are adding additional equipment which will help us to continue to produce the very best miniature aluminum extrusions & extruded tubing.

The first is a General Electric electrical conductivity meter. Measuring conductivity is the best way, short of destructively testing an aluminum extrusion, to determine its temper. This is especially important for us on parts that are .040” – .015” thick. The proper temper is most important for our Aerospace & Medical device customers.

Electrical conductivity meters are usually only found in hard alloy aerospace aluminum extrusion facilities. However we felt the traditional hand held hardness test devices were not good enough for our needs. After 3 months of research & testing we purchased the GE meter in January and are very pleased with the results.

The second equipment investment is a vision measurement system. It is a non-contact measurement system which uses video to perform high precision 2D & 3D measurements. As with the conductivity meter, this type of tool is generally not found in the soft alloy aluminum extrusion industry. We felt the investment would benefit our customers in helping us to manufacture precision components from thin wall aluminum tube & precision aluminum extrusions.

Happy New Year! A big “Thank You!” to all our customers for a great 2011. We’ve got big plans for 2012 as we get ready for our March Madness………moving to our new 40,000 square foot plant. We’ll also be adding additional equipment, new capabilities, and new employees. Manufacturing precision aluminum extrusions and thin wall aluminum tubing keeps us challenged every day. We’re looking forward to those challenges in 2012 and beyond.

Tom Gilluly, Sales Manger

Innovation as defined by Wikipedia: “…innovation generally refers to the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas…”

Innovation isn’t just for Apple, Nintendo and IBM. We get to observe it every day as our new building is under construction. 10 years ago, after pouring the floor, thousands of cinderblocks would have been delivered to the building site. Massive scaffolds would have been erected. In 3-4 weeks the walls would have been complete. At our new plant, just a few days after the floor was poured, the concrete walls were formed & poured. On October 31st the walls will be lifted into place. Less than ½ the time it took 10 years ago.

Applications for smart phones are evolving at light speed. One, 360Panorama, allows anyone to take a 360 degree around photograph. To see an example and our plant walls after they were poured, follow this link:

http://360.io/WyH3XS

We’ve had fun with this app documenting the weekly progress of our new plant, dubbed “Project Phx”.

Our customers are similar to the folks who created the Wii, iPhone, Poured Building Walls & 360 degree photos. They’re innovators and entrepreneurs who have vision and take us along for the ride. It’s always challenging, usually a lot of fun, and sometimes frustrating. What a blast…….keep those new idea’s coming! We’ll do our best to turn your ideas into aluminum extrusion reality.

Tom Gilluly, Sales Manager

Potential customers often ask “…what tolerances can you hold?” Many times we reply “…that depends what you need & the size of the extrusion design”. The Aluminum Association has published Aluminum Standards and Data for over 40 years. Almost all aluminum extrusion companies use its cross sectional dimensional tolerances as a basis for their production capabilities. Profile Precision Extrusions does not. Our customers need dimensional consistency that is much more precise than industry standard. Below are some examples of round tubes we produce and a comparison of our tolerances with those of the rest of our the industry.

*Aluminum Association drawn tube tolerance. Tolerances for extruded tubes of this size are undefined by the AA

OD tube tolerances can be held to less than +/-.001” with post extrusion production steps. Give us a call, or contact us by email, if you have a new or existing aluminum extruded tube that requires precision that you’ve been told “can’t be done”.

P.S. – to see progress on our new plant, which we broke ground on August 29th 2011, click on this link: http://360.io/TdjGyA

September brings change to many parts of the United States. Temperatures cool, the days get shorter, footballs games begin for all ages and farmers start to harvest their crops. In Arizona we have to wait 4-6 more weeks for the temperatures to cool. We need to come up with our own version of Punxsutawney Phil to know exactly when to expect high temperatures below 100 degrees.

This year, Fall is bringing big changes to Profile Precision Extrusions. One August 29th 2011 we broke ground on a new 40,000 square foot plant. Located 1 mile southwest of our current location, the new facilities will double the amount of production & administration space of our current building. The additional space will allow for future additions of equipment & services. One of the exciting additions we are considering is a saw that cuts without leaving a burr. Many of our miniature precision extrusion customers asked for parts to be “burr free”. For small tubes, in many cases, the only way to remove the saw burr on the tube ID is by hand. This is an expensive and time consuming secondary operation. Eliminating it would reduce lead times and cost to our customers.

Come and visit us in April 2012 after we’ve moved into the new plant. We’ll be happy to show you how we produce the most complex aluminum extrusions & extruded aluminum tubing in the world. You might also get to see how they can be cut without a burr.

P.S. – below is a sneak peak at our new building:

New Profile Precision Extrusions Building

Aluminum extrusions can be manufactured in almost an unlimited combination of shapes and sizes. Aluminum tubing can have multiple holes, hole geometries and patterns. Profile Precision Extrusions has manufactured over 2000 different miniature aluminum extrusion designs in our 20+ years of business. One of our limiting factors is the size of extrusions we can manufacture. Miniature aluminum extrusions are generally defined as ones who fit into a 3.5” diameter circle. Our Design Tips webpage, http://profileprecisionextrusions.com/design-tips.html, has some suggestions to make your designs “extrusion friendly”.

Part size and weight is important to many of our customers. The lightest weight parts we make are extruded in 3003 alloy. We have extruded parts with .010” wall thickness in 3003, but our general rule of thumb is a minimum of .020” thick walls for that alloy. 6063 is another popular alloy. It is a bit harder to push through an extrusion die. We extrude parts as thin as .025” with 6063. 6061 is a little harder to extrude than 6063, and our generally don’t extrude wall thicknesses less than .030” with it. Don’t hesitate to ask if we can break our “rule of thumb” to make your design work.

Designs with uniform wall thicknesses throughout are the least expensive to make. They are the easiest for us to extrude, and least costly to produce. If your design has rounded edges it will be less costly to produce than one with very sharp corner radii. These rules apply to extruded tubing as well as extruded shapes.

Extrusion dies vary in cost depending upon geometry. Simple, solid shape dies generally cost between $500-750. Tubing dies are more completed to make and run between $1250-1750. Very complicated multi-hole designs can run over $4000. Compared to other forms of tooling, extrusion dies are very inexpensive.

Please visit our Design Tips webpage http://profileprecisionextrusions.com/design-tips.html , call or email us prior to starting your next aluminum extrusion design. We’ll be happy to assist you during the design process.

I just returned to the plant from a whirlwind trip to the Midwest. I visited our Sales Office in Kalamazoo, MI and customers with our salesman in Indianapolis. On the Delta flight back to Phoenix I had my first opportunity to us Wi-Fi on an airplane. It works surprisingly well! Much better than the overpriced telephone systems many airlines installed in the 1990’s (and removed in the 2000’s). The only thing I couldn’t do was log in to write this blog. Turns out operator error was the real problem; I was using the wrong password!

I’m always amazed by the innovations and product improvements of our customers. One customer we visited makes portable oxygen delivery systems. The elderly & others who need supplemental oxygen have greater mobility with a 3 lb unit than if they’re dragging around a heavy oxygen bottle on wheels! We supply an extruded aluminum tube with fins that radiate outward. The extruded tube is cut to length and ends machined. It goes right to the customers’ assembly line.

A second project we just kicked off is another extruded tube that’s part of a tool used to repair rotator cuff injuries. The outside of the extruded tube is .219” +.000” / -.002” and the inside measures .090” +/-.002”. We have been working with our customer from the early design stage and now into production. After extrusion, the aluminum tube is machined on a Swiss style CNC. After machining the aluminum tube is hard coat anodized. 100% of the parts are inspected prior to shipment.

We also produce heat pipes and micro port extrusions which are hollow aluminum tubes used to cool electronics, both on earth and in space. The challenge in both cases is tolerance ranges of .002-.004”. Both are the building blocks cooling systems with no moving parts. Without the tolerances we can achieve, the systems would be much less efficient. Amazing innovation.

Our customers challenge us every day to stretch our comfort zone. To come up with innovative ways to meet their needs. Our innovation may not be as sexy as Wi-Fi at 40,000 ft in an airplane. However airline pilots aren’t helping athletes get back onto the field of play my making surgical device components either.

Tom Gilluly, Sales Manager

New customers & new projects are an integral part of our business. We enjoy working with Product Development Engineers to bring their aluminum extrusion ideas to reality. Every week we see new designs from an amazing array of industries: Medical Devices, Solar Power, Electrical Generation, Military Firearms, Aircraft, Satellites, Photography and Industrial Equipment. In almost all cases one of the critical aspects of each project is SPEED.

Speed in reviewing new aluminum extrusion designs. Speed in quoting the customer. Speed in making the tools. Speed in making samples. Speed in making corrections. Speed in delivering orders. Everyone is in a hurry to get their new products to the market. The supply chain must adapt and find ways to keep up.

Profile is able to meet the requirements of the global marketplace because we are a small, nimble company. Our suppliers are chosen for the same traits. Together as a team we manufacture precision miniature aluminum extrusions & tubing to meet the quality, price and delivery times the marketplace demands. It’s not always easy. We like the challenge.

We feel a little like Speedy sometimes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeNuclF4Awc&feature=related

The majority of aluminum extrusion manufacturers require customers to purchase a minimum of 500 to 1000 pounds of extruded shapes or tubing at a time. That could be more than a lifetime supply if you’re in New Product Development. Profile Precision Extrusions is happily part of the minority!

We do not have a minimum order size. Our philosophy is to match your needs as closely as possible. That includes extrusion design, shape, tolerances and quantities. You may ask how we can do something that 99.9% of the industry can’t. The answer is that it’s a mind set. If you want to do something, you can probably figure out how.

We work with Project Engineers from large corporations & entrepreneurs working out of their garage. In most cases they don’t need 500 lbs of an extruded aluminum for their prototypes. In the design/prototype phase what they really need is 25, 50 or 100 pieces of what they’ve designed. Once we supply that, changes are made and more parts are produced. Maybe the project ends or doesn’t work out. Other projects grow and evolve into thousands of parts each month.

Recently we received a very nice compliment from a medical products design engineer who we’ve been working with for the past 18 months. The project is moving into the production phase shortly and he told our salesman: “….those guys in Phoenix are awesome, they’re doing a great job with these parts and keeping use informed every step of the way. We’re extremely pleased and think Profile is a great source for us…”

Give us a call with your next project, small or large.

PS – with the Final Four playing out this weekend, good luck to the Cinderella Butler Bulldogs. Go Suns & Coyotes in their upcoming playoffs & good luck to the DBacks as they start their season on April 5th

Tom Gilluly, Sales Manager

In my last (and very first) installment I described what we manufacture: Miniature Precision Aluminum Extrusions. Now let’s talk about what we can do with an aluminum extrusion once it’s been created.

Most of our customers would like to have parts ready to be assembled. As a result, we offer many value added services. Some examples are:

•  Cutting,
• CNC Machining
• Anodizing
• Centerless Grinding
• Tumble Debur
• Laser Part Marking

You can follow this link to see examples: http://profileprecisionextrusions.com/services-fabrication.html

Many customers have us cut their parts to length. For cut lengths less than 48” we generally utilize our (2) precision saws. These saws can hold tolerances to +/-.005” or less. For one customer, we cut 3 million parts / year that are .75” long. For another, we custom cut approximately 1.5 million of their extruded aluminum tubes 7” long.

Depending upon the application, cut parts require vibratory debur to remove saw burrs and sharp edges. They can lead to problems during assembly operations. They can also cause scratches and cuts if too severe. We try to limit burrs by choosing the correct saw blade for the parts being cut. Different blades are used depending upon alloy/temper, part geometry, and cut length.

Anodizing is an electro-chemical process that forms a durable, oxide coat on the surface of aluminum extrusions. Many of the parts we sell are anodized. Anodizing is used as a protective coating or as a way to enhance the appearance of the part. Many different colors are available for cosmetic applications. Anodized aluminum is used in a wide variety of applications from disposable medical devices, paintball guns, industrial tools and aircraft parts. More on anodizing can be found on our anodizing page: http://profileprecisionextrusions.com/aluminum-anodizing.html

Centerless grinding is a new service that we began offering in early 2009. It is a way to obtain tolerances on tube OD’s that is not possible with extrusion. Not even by us! Tolerances down to +/-.0005” are possible.

Laser part marking looks great on extruded aluminum shapes that have been color anodized. It’s a very flexible process. You can mark graphics just as easily & clearly as letters and numbers.

Many customers ask us to perform multiple operations. For our largest customer, we utilize a Swiss style CNC to precisely machine razor sharp surfaces onto the extrusion. The part is then cut to just over 7” long, and clear anodized. We inspect the finished parts using a 50X microscope before shipping them. The Swiss CNC allows us to obtain a high degree of accuracy and repeatability from part to part.

Lead times for each process vary, but a good rule of thumb is 1 week per process.

Tom Gilluly, Sales Manager