Guill Tool & Engineering has introduced the new Series 819 EZ, a new low-volume precision MediFlow extrusion die utilised by OEMs/medical/industrial manufacturers, for easy, fast cleaning.

When customers require the capability of producing advanced tubing that’s sometimes as fine or even finer than a single human hair, the residue left in the chamber can create unnecessary and unwanted downtime because of the complexity of its cleaning and reassembly. In the new Series 819 EZ, Guill is addressing these major concerns with easy cleaning and fast reassembling of the tooling.

Specifically engineered for the tiniest applications required by today’s medical/OEM applications, including the latest minimally invasive arthroscopic surgical procedures, the Series 819 EZ for the next generation of medical tubing has minimum concentricity and wall thickness tolerances of just 0.0002 inches (0.00508 mm). This die is able to extrude products at sizes from 0.005 – 0.250 inches (0.01270 cm – 0.63500 cm).

With the Series 819 EZ, a two stage bolt system with the FeatherTouch adjustment is easy with outstanding sealing capabilities. The removal of the die holder offers quick and total cleaning of the body and the diverters. After cleaning the die, reassembly is simple, with only one part having to be replaced.

“In any application, and the OEM/medical market in particular, the advanced tight tolerances are most effective when the cleaning is thorough,” states Bill Conley, Technical Sales Manager of Guill. “Improper cleaning often results in residue. That means unnecessary waste in money and material as well as possible poor product performance because of an imperfect extrusion caused by residue that remains in the extrusion die.

“With Guill’s extrusion technology reaching newer and greater finite precision,” Conley adds, “easier and faster cleaning is more important than ever before for users to avoid waste and eliminate the unnecessary downtime that can spoil OEM/medical makers’ exacting production efforts.”

The Series 819 EZ is the MediFlow Series’ latest evolutionary development in ongoing R&D for medical tooling. Guill has also introduced the FlexiSpiral and the MicroMini series — both forerunners of the MediFlow Series — to meet the ever-changing requirements of advancing technology.

As part of its ability to deliver these tiny tolerances with extreme consistency and accuracy, the Series 819 EZ provides a host of features and benefits that combine the best in the evolution of extrusion-tooling technology. These include: • Split or patent-pending single flow to the body of the die. • Patented spiral engineering for upstream thermal balancing, a superb design that achieves an equal flow resulting in extremely close tolerances, thin-walls, and multilayered products. • Optimised deflectors offer minimum chamber residence time for the extrusion material. • Patented FeatherTouch design for easy concentricity adjustment enables low-effort concentricity adjustment without choking off the upstream. It is never compromised by the clamping forces necessary to create a proper seal, as is often the case with ordinary tooling systems. • Alignment on a common shaft. All the deflectors and the FeatherTouch concentrically eliminate the tolerance stack-up while reducing required set-up time. • Gumspace adjustment for optimum temperature control. A recessed die-nut enables a heater to warm the entire die area for the optimum in temperature control. • Cartridge or band heaters — available as an option for the main extrusion die. • Saves money and time with tip replacement. Only an insert rather than the entire tip needs to be used; installs in about 1 minute or less.

Today, Guill Tool also manufactures tips, dies, and breaker plates using state-of-the-art computerised CNC machining and EDM equipment. Engineering services using the latest CAD systems are available for custom-designing extrusion-tooling products: crossheads, tips, clamps, flanges, air wipes, forming rolls, spiderless inline dies, dies, swing gates, breaker plates, special equipment, and sizing dies.