An extrusion process for creating a roof ditch molding including forming a main body from a plastic material in a first stage extrusion, conveying the main body through a stacked array of die plates and into a first stage cooling tank, and communicating the main body from an outlet of the first stage cooling tank to a second stage extruder with crosshead die for applying a skim film bonding layer to the main body. Additional steps include applying a decorative layer over the skim bonding layer, communicating the main body to a third stage extruder with cross head die for applying wing portions in partially overlapping fashion along opposite side edges of the decorative layer and drawing the completed ditch molding through a second stage cooling tank prior to conducting one or more finishing operations.

A method of making a wire with multiple coating layers can comprise: preheating a wire to a temperature T.sub.preheat to form a pre-heated wire; using a first extruder to coat the pre-heated wire with the first coating material to form a first coated wire; passing the first coated wire to a second extruder without storing the first coated wire, coating the first coated wire with a second coating material to form a second coated wire; and cooling the second coated wire.

The present invention relates to a catheter system having a reinforced guidewire shaft and a method of manufacturing a reinforced catheter shaft. In particular, the present invention relates to a catheter shaft having two or more polymer layers and a reinforcement layer that is comprised of braids or a coil or combination thereof. The braided reinforcement layer may have a constant picks per inch (PPI) between braids or a variable PPI between braids. Similarly, the coiled reinforcement layer may have a constant pitch space between coils or a variable pitch space between coils. The reinforced catheter shaft may be manufactured by a continuous reel-to-reel process using liquid polymers that are heat-hardened or by a discrete process using extruded tube that is shrunk with heat.

With a method for producing a two-dimensional or three-dimensional framework (1) with rods (2) of a composite material with fibers and a matrix, which are connected with nodes (3) to at least one other rod (2) and/or another component (29), comprising the steps of: producing the rods (2) out of a composite material, connecting the rods (2) with at least one other rod (2) and/or another component (29) at the nodes (3), the framework (1) should be manufactured inexpensively and reliably by a low technical effort. This object can be solved in a way that the rods (2) are being produced with pultrusion and/or extrusion and a pultrusion unit (6) and/or an extrusion unit (7) is moved in space such that after the pultrusion and/or extrusion the pultruded and/or extruded rods (2) are pultruded and/or extruded in each case at the required position within the framework (1).

A process produces an electrical line which extends in the longitudinal direction and the line has a line core and an outer shell. In a continuous shaping process, individual shell portions of the outer shell are formed successively by surrounding the line core with a curable plastic substance. In at least one portion, the outer shell is produced having a cross-sectional geometry which can be varied in the longitudinal direction of the line.

Method of making an extruded thin film comprising: melt filtering an amorphous thermoplastic composition comprising an amorphous thermoplastic polymer with a glass transition temperature Tg of 130 C. to 280 C. to form a melt filtered amorphous thermoplastic composition; extruding the melt filtered amorphous thermoplastic composition into strands at a temperature TE; cooling the strands to a temperature Tc to form cooled strands; cutting the cooled strands into pellets having a length of 2.0 to 6.0 millimeters; treating the pellets at a temperature Ts to remove particulates having at least one of length, width, and height of less than 0.5 millimeters to form treated pellets; melting the treated pellets in an extruder at a temperature Tp to form a molten composition; and extruding the molten composition through a flat die to form a film having an average thickness less than or equal to 50 micrometers.

A method of and apparatus for extruding an article of uniform cross-section, the article including a thermoplastic material and at least one cable for inhibiting stretch of the article. The cable is supplied to a respective tube and is conveyed between upstream and downstream ends. The thermoplastic material may be supplied to the downstream end of the tube. The thermoplastic material is brought together with the cable to embed the cable within the thermoplastic material, thereby forming a composite extrudate. The tube is configured to at least hinder movement of loose windings of the cable from the downstream end towards the upstream end, which may prevent or at least reduce incidence of birdcaging.

It is disclosed a process and an apparatus for manufacturing a figure of eight cable. An extrusion head has separate extrusion dies extruding in parallel a first and second outer sheath around a first and second core, respectively, so as to provide two separate cable elements having respective longitudinal axes laying in a first plane. While the outer sheaths are in a softened state, the cable elements are passed in parallel through a twisting die which causes their longitudinal axes to lay in a second plane forming a predetermined twisting angle with respect to the first plane. This twisting causes the outer sheaths to join together, thereby forming a figure of eight cable.

Methods for manufacturing fabric-reinforced weatherstrip include incorporating a fabric application step into a process for making coated substrates. In one embodiment, a strip of the fabric from a roll of material may be applied directly onto a coating after it has been applied in a coat die to a foam profile, while the coating is still in the molten state. Alternatively, a fabric application plate may be attached to an upstream side of coating die with a fabric feed channel cut into the plate. The fabric follows the channel to contact and mate with the foam profile. The fabric applicator plate may be configured so as to exert pressure on only the part of the product where the fabric is being applied. Ultrasonic welding techniques may also be employed.

The current three-dimensional object manufacturing technique relies on the deposition of a pseudoplastic material in gel aggregate state. The gel flows through a deposition nozzle because the applied agitation and pressure shears the bonds and induces a breakdown in the material elasticity. The elasticity recovers immediately after leaving the nozzle, and the gel solidifies to maintain its shape and strength.