Get up-to-date controls for older extruders.

Old extruders don't necessarily get obsolete, but their controls do. On that premise, a 13-year-old developer of control systems has created a series of extrusion control retrofits using standard components. Facts Inc., Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, used to rebuild controls on a custom basis, but recently began offering pre-engineered control packages to bring the cost of retrofits down. It now offers five versions: Mini, Basic, Pro, TEC, and TEC Plus. Mini, Basic, and Pro are all PLC based; TEC and TEC Plus use industrial PCs. Cost starts at $4500 for individual extruder control and runs up to $45,000 for total line control of a complex multi-layer extrusion system with gravimetric feeders and melt pumps. Facts has retrofitted over a dozen pre-engineered control systems, mostly in sheet extrusion.

Meanwhile, Chicago Electric in Addison, Ill., has offered similar extrusion control retrofits for two years. The company had 15 years' previous experience in retrofitting machine controls for paper-converting and packaging machinery. Prices range from $20,000 to $200,000. Facts Inc.: [phone], www.facts-inc.com; Chicago Electric: [phone], ext. 223, www.digitalextruder.com