1.  E-training sessions (webinars).
2.  Private sessions at factory locations (scroll down past webinar contents)
3.  My full-length seminar (1 or 2 days) (scroll down past Private sessions)

1.  E-training sessions (webinars).

Each session is one hour in length, and attendees will be able to ask questions before, during and even after the sessions.  Recordings of all sessions will be available (links on my home page) and they can be presented live and privately, if requested.

The two webinars in 2009 were sponsored by IDES (www.ides.com) -- links and contents below.  My current series  is sponsored by the trade magazine Modern Plastics Worldwide. The first two in this series, on Data Acquisition and Between the Screw & Die, are available at www.plasticstoday.com, Modern Plastics' web presence.  Summaries of their contents are included below.

The next webinar (April 14) will discuss the Ten (11) Key Principles of Extrusion, also the subject of my first IDES webinar, and the basis for my practical extrusion training seminars since 1986. 
Here is the registration link (use it even after April 14):
http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=199477&s=1&k=859128F3D79AB87210ECE99B9E6F37D1 

And here are the Principles:

1.  The mechanical principle -- how the plastic enters and passes through the extruder.

2.  The thermal principle -- why we need heat and how we get it to the plastic.

3.  The need for speed -- how and why we change from motor speed to screw speed.

4.  The feed is the real coolant -- it absorbs most of the heat as it melts and softens.

5.  Stick to the barrel and slip on the screw, in the feed zone, for best inpush.

6.  Resin is the dominant cost factor for most extrusions.

7.  Power cost is relatively minor -- extrusion is efficient and too much heat is a problem.

8.  Pressure at the screw tip is the demand of the entire head, relates to safety, mixing, more.

9.  Output is drag flow plus/minus pressure flow, with slip and leakage effects.

10.  Plastics are shear-thinning -- viscosity drops as speed increases.

11.  Heating/cooling through the barrel is opposed by the motor.


Data Acquisition and Usefulness (Get the Numbers!) January 20, 2010

The Sets are screw rpm, barrel & die temperatures, and sometimes melt pressure at entry to a gear pump.  How to set them, how to read them, overriding, when to change them.

The Gets are melt temperature and pressure, motor current (amps) and output rate in lb or kg/hr.  How to measure them.  Gets vs limits.  Speed isn't everything.

Calculated values.  Energy use/efficiency, power need, output per rpm, bearing life.

Lab data.  Material properties (melt index, density) and product properties (strength, appearance, dimensions).

Recording and Remembering.  On paper, on disk, raw vs cooked.  Who will digest the data and be nourished by them?

Usefulness.  Troubleshooting, support for material and equipment purchase decisions, legal claims, some case histories.

Response to Participants' Questions.  On line as long as time permits, by email later if necessary.


Between the Screw and Die (Conditioning the Melt) February 24, 2010

Screens:: mesh size, wire gauge, materials, some tips and tricks, avoiding leakage, care of breaker plates (screen supports), relation to mixing.  Screenophobia.

Screening devices: lever changers, slide plates, bolt types, self-flushing, super- filtration, semi-continuous and continuous rotary and linear.  .

Adapters and transfer tubes: avoiding degradation and explosion, angles and streamlining, location of sensors, internal coatings on metal and in material.

Mixers: in-line static mixers, mixing plates, overmixing, dynamic mixing devices after the screw.

Gear pumps: why use them, for what operations, how to specify them and follow their efficiency, location, purging.

Miscellaneous and General: Heating & cooling, insulation, valves, ultrasonics for flow measurement and resistance reduction, external temperature measurement.

Response to Participants' Questions.  On line as long as time permits, by email later if necessary.


IDES Webinars presented in May, 2008

The Ten Key Principles of Extrusion
Link: http://www.ides.com/webinars/2009/principles-of-extrusion.asp

These principles have been the basis for my seminars since 1986:

1. Why the material moves through the barrel .
2. Where the heat comes from, why we need it, and what happens when there’s too much.
3. Why speed must be controlled and how it’s done.
4. Why the real coolant is the resin itself.
5. The importance of sticking to the barrel in the feed zone.
6. The dominant role of resin cost.
7. The insignificant role of power cost.
8. The special importance of melt pressure and temperature.
   
9. The components of production rate and how to estimate an expected rate.
10. The meaning of shear-thinning, and
11. Heating and cooling on the barrel is opposed by the motor.

Feeding the Hopper: Materials for Extrusion
Link: http://www.ides.com/webinars/2009/materials-for-extrusion.asp

Raw material is fed to the extruder, and is almost always the primary cost of the operation, so just as we must pay attention to the nutritional value of what we eat, we must also pay close attention to the material/feed -- its condition, form and properties. Discussion topics include:

Some definitions: plastic, polymer, compound, resin, olefin, elastomer, vinyl, styrenic, etc.
Formulation and "vitamins"(additives): stabilizers, fillers, tougheners, colorants, viscosity aids, etc.
The three densities (solid, bulk and melt).
Flow measurement: melt index, solution viscosities, actual flow tests, shear rate, melt strength.
Strength tests: reading a tensile curve and a report of multiple results.
Re-use of scrap and trim, contamination and degradation.
Importance of mixing, especially with blends, scrap and micro-additives.
Some quick and inexpensive tests that everyone can do.  

2.  Private sessions at factory locations

These are based on the seminar outline below, but adapted to individual needs and interests. Charges for such a session are $2500 for the first day and $1500 for each additional day, plus expenses, plus travel time at $75/hour, no matter how many people attend.  Some sessions are focused on training of operators and technicians, others include trouble-shooting and consulting, and hours can be adapted to fit production needs.  Typical sessions are two or three days.  It is possible to do this by teleconference or videoconference, but the best training is still by direct encounter, plus my direct observation of the equipment and products.