Unique uses for extrusions

Just wondering if anyone out there knows of some really cool modular extruded products. If you have examples can you post? I am testing the extrusion water if you will and have not really seen much in the way of comercial non industrial products made with the extrusion as the main focus.

The coolest I’ve seen are freight train wagons. Extruded profiles, abot 30cm wide I think, slotted together to make a strong enough shell with no additional support structure.

All sorts of enclosure cases… like speed cameras and fire extinguishers.
http://www.sapagroup.com/en/Aluminium-/Design-Support/Product-Examples/Eliminating-Bus-Fires/
(There’s more stuff on this site)

Extruded chair. They do benches and barstools as well.
http://www.borselius.se/sting-chair

Bracelet.

You also have lots of extrusion in kitchens, bathrooms etc… Automotive industry uses hydroformed extruded profiles to get really cool lightweight structure parts.

Oh, and remeber this guy?

The heel loop on Union snowboard bindings is done in an extruded profile. Unique in the field of snowboarding.

http://www.unionbindingcompany.com/product/snowboard-bindings/force

All those are good examples. I especially like the bracelets. May not be so functional but they are cool. Keep the examples coming.

I designed an in wall speaker some years ago for Bay Audio. It was .5" thick in the middle, tapered at the edges, and about 10" wide. It was hard to keep it from warping but features for the grill and rear mounting were included in the die.

My favorite extruded products are Thomson bike seatposts. It’s not exactly the kind of stuff you are after but the progression from parent part to finished product is elegant and effective. They are the only seatposts I trust!

All examples are viable slippyfish. Have reference images of the Bay Audio product?

Just renderings. They stopped making them a while ago, too much machining needed. I’ll look for some images.

I’m working on an extrusion based product now, its been fun trying to design to extrusion parameters. More examples please.

I see one of these every day when I go check my mail and I still think it’s a clever use of an extrusion, even the hinge is built into the tooling. Not the prettiest, but clever.

Heres why I have been asking. Trying to design a container that attaches to the side of your table. Needs to bee cool and cheap with minimal tooling dollars.

Looks like a perfect opportunity for extrusions. Would require a few different processes yes? Extrusion, cutting two different lengths circular mug holder and outer extrusion. Turning for the blue venting area around the mug and then milling slot of mug handle. Additional tack welds for the blue handle . Or would this be part of the initial extrusion. Looks cool! would love to hear how this works out for you.

For decent finishes and minimal cost I’d guess this would be injection molded. No reason why not as would be a high volume product I’m assuming. Making this an extrusion I think doesn’t make sense, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t do extrusions. I’m a shoe guy :wink:


Is this a real project or a school project?

R

It looks like this has more going on than an extrusion would offer - plus require some secondary steps (not sure how you were planning on attaching that mesh material?)

It does look like an easy and realatively straight forward part to make with injection molding. Don’t think you’re really going to save much in the way of money by going the extrusion route and the post process machining/welding/assembly would probably make this cost a lot of money. Plastic might still be your best bet.

cyberdemon makes a great point, this may be asking too much from an extrusion. I found this helpful.

Not sure I fully understand the design intent, but here’s a cheap solution if you can simplify your design this much. The design could of course be refined and possibly get the cool outdoors gear/aiplane interior style.

Didn’t quite work out the handle, was that for holding or mounting on the table? I just drew the bracket for mounting something similar to yours, but you could just extrude a vertical handle for holding.

Engio, Yeah…thats exaclty what I had in mind. Only the bottom would be made out of a wire mesh type plate similar to the blue cup material. Extruding the screw attach into the form is a good idea however it breaks up the clean look pretty bad. I have been trying to think of ways to get around that. One way is to create a double wall and imbed the bosses in between and finish the top edge with some sort of cover. It all starts to get expensive when you want to make it look professional.

Richard, This will be a commercial product. You are absolutely right with regards to the remarks about injection molding however with this project I have been tasked with developing a concept that eliminates the high initial cost of tooling , thus the extrusion, and if you throw in the argument that injection mold tooling would be paid for rather quickly given a high forecast then unfortunately I have to admit this product will be a limited addition to please the very small masses. Ahhhh how I love design politics.

Stayyouth, The idea here is to use some sort of plastic material to make the extrusion profile. Another lovely product brief requirement. No costly materials. If I had my way the thing would be injection molded but I have to admit I like the challenge the extrusion presents. How do we make an extrusion profile that looks cool and functions just as well without looking completely industrial. This is a tough one.

J

I’m curious cyber… why are you attaching a cup holder to the side of a table… ?

You mentioned that it will be a “commercial product”, but is this a hypothetical project assigned at school?

I’m not attaching anything. :wink:

Opps… my bad… YOU aren’t attaching anything… :blush:

So… … carbon…