Case Study Extruder and Line Purchase for a New Product

2 Case Study Extruder and Line Purchase for a New Product 

In order to meet the goals, the equipment manufacturers were forced to reduce the size of many of the components, including the motor size, gearbox, barrel diameter and length, and many auxiliary components of the line. It was hypothesized that the equipment manufacturers did not believe that the resin was as viscous as reported. The gearbox was, however, specified with a safety factor of 1.5 for the motor and belt sheave system installed. 

During the startup of the line, the extruder was quickly identified as not having enough torque from the motor to make the product. At this point the best option was to change the belt sheave ratio between the motor and gearbox such that addi- 

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