Puck weight?

[2043]

Hello Everybody,

Just a quick question about Puck weights. I'm looking at extruders and trying to calculate Kg/Hr output required for an appropriate extruder.
So if you have a max record weight of 180 grams, what weight puck would be required to produce that record? I'm guessing that the flash is around 30-40 grams??? So would a puck weight of around 210-220 grams be adequate?
And would the same extra flash weight be appropriate for 140 gram 12" and 50 gram 7" records?

Thanks all for your help!
Mike

[Ketaman]

Our 180gm pucks sit around 210 - 220gms and 140gm records (which we tend to run on the heavier side) around 190 - 200gms for roughly 30-40gm of flash per record. Sometimes the puck size changes a little bit depending on how the machine is running. We are running Warmtones so it might be a little different for other presses.

[2043]

Thanks so much Ketaman. I've been looking at some manual extruders and just wanted to figure out the smallest screw diameter to work with.
It's interesting that nobody is doing dual screw units. Not sure if that would be advantageous or not.

[Aussie0zborn]

Dual screw extruders are useful when using dry blend rather than pellets as they mix the dry blend into a homogenous mix. If you’re using pellets, there’s probably no real advantage.

In any case, the size of the puck is determined by the extrusion time. You want to extrude a puck in less than thirty seconds to keep up with the press assuming your cycle time is less than thirty seconds.

[2043]

Thanks also Aussie! Yeah that totally makes sense. I hadn't thought about dry mix. I haven't seen anyone processing with dry mix. But definitely possible.
We may end up in a somewhat DIY situation. I have been looking at extruders from various press manufacturers. But have noticed that a basic 1 1/2" dia screw extruders are around $10-20 k instead of $50k. Actually it looks like many are bought and modified to automate puck forming and handling.
Thanks again Buddy!