WEXCO Tool Steel Injection and Extrusion Barrels

WEXCO "Tool Steel" Barrels

Patented "One-Piece" Tool Steel-lined

Abrasion-resistant High-Performance Injection and Extrusion Barrels

Primary Applications:

For Extrusion and Injection Molding using Filled but Non-corrosive Polymers

The “technical stuff”:

If your plastic processing application calls for a “tool steel” cylinder with a liner made from AISI D2, CPM 10V^®(AISI 11), or CPM 15V^® tool steel, you can now purchase a high-performance, patented ** WEXCO “Tool Steel” cylinder from WEXCO or most screw and cylinder suppliers and OEM’s !

Why choose a "WEXCO" high-performance “Tool Steel” barrel?

Making “tool steel” cylinders is a natural extension to our traditional product line of bimetallic cylinders with “cast” inlay. But we are not satisfied with simply becoming “another supplier” of tool steel cylinders. We are WEXCO! We always want to make and offer a better product!

The story of "segmented" tool steel liners vs. WEXCO's "one-piece" (or "non-segmented") liners:

Since it is practically impossible to harden a long, thin-walled liner made from tool steel and keep it straight, most "Tool Steel" plasticating cylinders offered today are made by inserting several short segments of heat-treated tool steel lining material inside the backing tube and then honing the bore of this subassembly. While the finished product may give the appearance of a continuous single-piece liner, the fact is that the liner consists of many segments that are simply “butted” against each other.

One of the problems associated with this common liner construction is the possibility of small gaps between the sections that could retain colored plastic residue causing streaking after the operator changes to a different colored polymer.

Another frequent problem with segmented tool steel liners is the inconsistent shrink fit of the liner sections to the backing tube that may cause one of the segments to rotate or to move axially under the pressure generated by the screw pushing plastic resin through the segmented tool steel cylinder. In that case, damage to the screw and / or cylinder is likely.

WEXCO to the rescue! Our solution: WEXCO engineers have developed a unique manufacturing process that allows us to make our "Tool Steel" cylinders with a one-piece, continuous liner! We manufacture a long one-piece liner made from annealed tool steel, shrink-fit it into our backing tube made with special WEXCO JP38 micro-alloy steel, and then heat-treat the assembly. This process hardens the tool steel liner while the JP38 steel backing tube remains a relatively ductile Rc 28-32.

This unique manufacturing process allows WEXCO to offer a superior performing "Tool Steel" cylinder! In fact, the special manufacturing process we employ is so unique that we have been granted a patent! On May 3rd, 2005, the U.S. Patent Office issued U.S. Patent # 6,887,322 to inventors Mr. Don Smith and Dr. Calvin Lundeen, both employed by WEXCO CORP.

Why should YOU consider this product?

If you want a high-performance “Tool Steel” cylinder with a one-piece continuous liner that prevents all of the problems associated with segmented tool steel liners, you must specify a “WEXCO” Tool Steel cylinder! You can't get a one-piece tool steel liner anywhere else! Order it from your favorite OEM supplier, from your barrel and screw distributor, or from WEXCO, but insist on a "WEXCO Tool Steel cylinder with a one-piece liner".