Taber Extrusions, located in Russellville, AR and Gulfport, MS, is a highly regarded provider of aluminum extrusions to a wide variety of industries including aerospace, infrastructure, transportation, defense, and thermal management. A minority-owned business enterprise which is ISO 9001, AS 9100, NADCAP, and ABS certified, Taber’s present and future customers can expect to see increased supply opportunities with the expanded set of extrusion solutions, programs, and services.
Founded in 1973, Taber Extrusions originally pioneered a process for extruding rectangular billet which enables the company to extrude solid profiles up to 31 inches wide or hollows up to 29 inches. Taber expanded with the purchase of an extrusion facility in Gulfport, MS which houses a new state-of-the-art cast house and two additional presses, micro-extrusion capabilities, and the fabrication area has since been expanded multiple times. Taber continues to extrude billet in a wide range of alloys and sizes and has diversified its markets beyond military since its inception and supplies cast and extruded aluminum products in a variety of soft and hard alloys.
Today, Taber Extrusions is proud of its added friction stir welding capabilities, full offering of extruded aluminum components, value-added machining services and raw material supply to the North American market. The addition of in-house FSW capabilities makes Taber Extrusions a vertically integrated supplier of FSW panels and assemblies never seen before in North America.
ALUMINUM EXTRUSIONS
Known as a leading aluminum extruder, Taber offers a full range of aluminum alloys including hard, soft, marine, and armor grade. Choose from 2000, 5000, 6000, and 7000 grades with custom chemistries available for specific metal fabrication needs. Taber’s aluminum extrusions range spans from less than 1 lb./ft. to over 140 lbs./ft., making Taber the broadest extruders of aluminum profiles in the industry. Their multi-void hollow capability is up to 29” wide, and they can produce solid extrusions up to 31” wide. As part of Taber’s value-added approach, they offer design assistance for custom and specialty aluminum profiles.
Taber also offers the only 28” x 10” rectangular container size in North America.
In a rectangular container, uniform metal flow in width and thickness of wider bars and profiles, the following is achieved in contrast to round container of similar geometry:
- The flatness can be controlled to within 75% of AA specification on wide panel, multivoid hollow profiles of up to 29” width.
- Contour on most profiles can be controlled as per the spec without secondary operations.
- Superior dimension control and consistency throughout the length of the extruded profile.
FABRICATION CAPABILITIES
Taber’s aluminum fabrication capabilities include precision sawing, horizontal machining and manufacturing, extra-large CNC machining, 5-axis CNC machining, multi-axis machining, and a vertical machining center. Taber’s cut tolerances cover length and squareness of cut (up to +/- .050″) across a maximum 36″ width (minimum cut length of .75″). These precision saw-cutting capabilities for rod & bar/standard extruded shapes and customized aluminum extrusion profiles saw cut with greater accuracy, providing their customers with a product precise enough to be loaded directly into their machining centers. The precision cut blanks save customers time and money compared to having to cut mill lengths in-house.
Machinery — Aluminum CNC machining services:
- Haas VF-12… COMING SOON!! (Link to latest blog on this topic)
- Haas VF-7
- EMMEGI Satellite XT
- OKK Horizontal Machining Center
- Zeiss CMM
Machinery – Aluminum precision cutting & sawing services:
- BO Saws B-800
- Marvel Band Saw
Visit Taber Extrusions’ Fabrication web page for videos and details!
ALUMINUM CAST HOUSE
With the completion of a 2017 cast house modernization, Taber has increased its billet capacity by over 30%, expanded its range of high quality aluminum alloys (hard, soft, marine, aerospace, and defense), and enabled the use of more diverse scrap material in its process, allowing for the production of billet with high recycled content. “We have evolved into a fully integrated supplier with control over our raw materials by casting the alloys and diameters necessary to feed our extrusion presses,” says Eric Angermeier, President of Taber Extrusions.
“Our recent cast house modernization has significantly increased the billet quality that will flow through all aspects of our business. Our capabilities to serve diverse markets are greatly enhanced and we now have capacity for third party sales of extrusion billet and large forging stock,” Angermeier adds. (Read full article in Light Metal Age magazine here.)
Taber launched their “Billets Straight to You” (aluminum billets for immediate sale) campaign in 2020, which includes aluminum alloys 6061 and 6063, with 6005, 6005A, 6082 available upon request.
MICRO-EXTRUSIONS
Taber’s micro-extrusion manufacturing lines have a production envelope with a circle size of 3 inches or less and a weight per foot of 1 lb. or less. For comparison, the 8,600 ton press in Taber’s Russellville facility produces profiles with a minimum weight of 4 lbs. per foot.
Unlike traditional extrusion presses, these micro-extrusion presses are built to allow for the production of extrusions with wall thicknesses of 0.010 inches and tolerance capabilities of +/- 0.001 inches. These miniature extrusion production centers allow designers and engineers the freedom to create profiles that are un-extrudable through conventional presses.
“As computers get smaller and smaller, the heat sinks used in those computers need to likewise get smaller… they can also be used in industrial applications, with housings for sensors, and in military applications, as components for drones. So, there’s a lot of market potential for micro-extrusions,” explains Jason Weber, Taber V.P. of Sales and Marketing, in Light Metal Age Magazine, 2018.
FRICTION STIR WELDING
Taber’s FSW capabilities include simultaneous two-side welding, double wall hollow extrusions up to 6.25 inches tall, 32 inches wide, and accepts lengths up to 65 feet long. Taber’s friction stir welding production cell is capable of creating panel assemblies 200 inches wide by 65 feet long, with integrated pre-joining profile trimming. With profile widths up to 31 inches, lengths up to 65 feet, and ability to weld up to 3/4 of an inch in a single pass, Taber has an operational envelope that is unmatched within the industry.
Friction stir welding is commonly used in the rail, automotive, marine & shipbuilding industries, military & defense, commercial & industrial construction, infrastructure, and in aviation & aerospace.
The addition of in-house FSW capabilities makes Taber Extrusions a vertically integrated supplier of FSW panels and assemblies never seen before in North America.
“This was an obvious next-step for Taber,” said Jason Weber, V.P. of Sales and Marketing, in a 2019 article by Light Metal Age Magazine, “the company was founded in 1973, and never stopped diversifying, adding new capabilities, and technologies. We are known for aluminum extrusions, fabrication, billet casting, ultra-precision extrusions. Friction stir welding was going to happen eventually.”
LEADING ALUMINUM EXTRUDER TABER
INDUSTRIES SERVED:
- Government/military
- Aircraft/aerospace
- Marine/shipbuilding
- Infrastructure
- Electronics
- Medical
- Transportation
- Rail car
- Mining
- Industrial
- Agricultural
- Sporting goods
- Custom shapes for most any application
Taber Extrusions is a full-service partner with an unwavering commitment to consistently meeting and exceeding customer expectations by providing both products and service of the highest quality. This commitment is at the core of everything they do… making certain that whatever you can dream, they can give it shape.
Thank you for your continued support of Taber Extrusions. If you have any questions please visit taberextrusions.com or contact one of our Regional Sales Representatives.
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