So you’re not an expert at designing aluminum extrusions. No problem. The trick is to get the design as far along as possible before you interact with an extruder. To do that, you need to become familiar with the process. Today we’ll discuss some common bad design elements.

Thin Walls

Thin walls are often difficult to produce because they require a lot of force to push through a die. This creates a lot of back pressure on the die. This is also why die construction is done by the extruder – they can calculate the required load on the die and then it’s corresponding material thickness. Thin walls with hard alloys magnify the problem. Sometimes your design can’t escape thin walls, especially if you’re designing heat sinks.

Significantly Different Wall Thicknesses

Aluminum during the extrusion process more approximates a fluid than a solid. So, when you have parts with wildly differing wall thicknesses the material tends to flow right into the large areas and starve out the thinner sections. The large sections offer low resistance, while the thin/small sections offer high resistance. The material follows the path of least resistance.

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