Extrusion press procurement guide
This guide explains how to choose among direct, indirect, and double-action, and which project facts to prepare. It does not replace an engineering solution, and it does not list an order-ready machine configuration.
The forming method decides how the metal flows, and which die and motion you need to describe next. Judge direct, indirect, and double-action before you talk about tonnage. Custom and special-purpose equipment is not a fourth flow method. It combines the first three platforms around a project boundary.
In direct extrusion the metal leaves in the same direction as the main press motion, and the billet slides against the container. The platform covers solid profiles, bars, and selected hollows made with porthole, bridge, or other established die systems. In indirect extrusion the die moves toward the billet, the billet stays essentially still relative to the container, container-wall sliding friction drops sharply, and force and temperature usually change more smoothly. A double-action press adds an independent piercing or mandrel system and is mainly for seamless tubes whose inner surface is formed with the mandrel. Hollows that split and re-weld are normally made on a single-action press with a porthole die. Whether a given section can be produced still depends on the die, the material, the equipment capability, and the process conditions.
Solid profiles, bars, and selected tubes or hollows made with an appropriate die system.
Learn moreConsider indirect extrusion when the length needs more stable load and temperature change.
Learn moreSeamless tubes where the mandrel forms the inner surface, not every hollow product.
Learn moreWhen a standard platform boundary is not enough, combine direct, indirect, or double-action for that project.
Learn moreThe Start a Project page lists common aluminum press ranges: Construction profiles 800–2500T, Automotive / EV 2500–5000T, and Industrial profiles 800–5000T. These are ranges, not a tonnage assigned to an application. Section, flow stress, extrusion ratio, die, and cycle still have to be read together. Copper, magnesium, and other materials do not use these three bands.
The full XJ parameter table is no longer on the selector page, so it does not compete with this guide. Write the material, product, section, and output on the checklist. Nominal force, billet size, power, and outline dimensions are confirmed in the final engineering solution. A model name is still read as an XJ series number plus nominal force in UST, for example XJ-800 (880 UST).
Three questions about this guide
These three questions only separate this guide from the checklist. They do not repeat the platform descriptions above.
The procurement guide explains how to choose direct, indirect, and double-action, and why tonnage cannot be taken from outline dimensions alone. The inquiry checklist lists the project facts to write down before you submit, and it no longer carries the full XJ parameter table. Use both: judge the platform here, arrange the facts on the checklist, then submit them on Start a Project.
No. Hollows that split and re-weld are normally made on a single-action press with a porthole die. Double-action equipment is mainly for seamless tubes where the mandrel forms the inner surface. Whether a specific section can be produced still depends on the die, the material, the equipment capability, and the process conditions.
Yes. Planned tonnage on Start a Project can be marked as not sure. Still write the material, the product type, and any known section or output. Mark unknown items as to be assessed on the inquiry checklist. The final tonnage comes from an engineering review. This page does not give an order-ready configuration.
START A PROJECT
After the material, product, and known output are written down, send them from Start a Project.