Krauss-Maffei said last year it would follow some of its leading competitors into the market for smaller extruders. At the Plast 2003 exhibition in May it displayed the first such model, the KME-45-XS. The extruder was also set to be seen at a customer event in Munich in July as part of a complete extrusion line incorporating downstream equipment designed and made for these extruders by Austrian manufacturer Greiner Extrusionstechnik.

The machine occupies a space of only 1.96m high by 2.12m long by 1.125m wide. Hopper volume is 108 dm3. The 45-mm screw has a 30 L/D ratio to process to 75 kg/hr of HDPE, 50 kg/hr of PP, 40 to 50 kg/hr of rigid PVC, and 60 kg/hr of ABS. There are four die heating zones and five barrel heating/cooling zones. Screw disassembly is to the front of the machine. Only non-vented units are available now, but the firm intends to add vented ones. Target markets include use as a main extruder for low-output pipe applications, as a coextruder in multi-layer applications, or as the main extruder of small profiles or tubing. The single-screw version is being sold for €43,000, and a twin-screw version for rigid PVC, the KMD-75-XS, is sold for €99,000. The latter can process up to 180 kg/hr of rigid PVC. Krauss-Maffei Kunststofftechnik GmbH, Krauss-Maffei Strasse 2, D-80973 Munich, Germany, www.krauss-maffei.de