Having helped a client previously with their aluminium extrusion requirements, we received a new enquiry for a Light Housing profile.
In order to make this a viable extrusion, we needed to make some drastic modifications. The profiles were to butt up end-to-end.
Therefore the design included 4 x 5mm diameter ‘circles’ to house the spring dowels.
These were in each corner of the profile, supported by a diagonal stem – thus making four double hollow features in the design.
This was not extrudable, so we re-designed these to the familiar ‘screwport’ feature for the dowels. The biggest challenge, however, were the two openings: centre and bottom of the profile.
To make the extrusion a hollow would prove move stable, but the client needed access for cabling. We then considered designing the profile to include a ‘tear out strip’. This would give a stable hollow extrusion.
However, the need to remove the strip afterwards meant more time and cost.
The final design meant we opened the middle section further, making the profile more stable as a solid design and reducing weight (therefore cost to the client). This enabled us to increase the wall thickness slightly to improve rigidity.
The result was a functional and stable extrusion, with reduced die cost and die manufacture time.
