Hockey Puck Handling Drills
A Complete Encyclopedia: Plastic Product Manufacturing From A-Z!
I was at a point in my life where I wanted to see what it was like to do something I’d never done before. I wanted to see how things so simple that I see in everyday use were made, and who it was that made them! We buy our products from name brand stores, but do we ever stop to ask ourselves how the product itself came to be? Nobody really stops to think of what goes into making something as simple as a roll of tape. When I started asking these questions, I was introduced to plastic extrusion process. The name itself was fun to say, and I went to a couple of companies to do some hands-on research on the subject. To my surprise, I learned way more than I thought I would, and I was actually catching on really fast!
The first thing you need in the extrusion of plastics is a raw material by the name of thermoplastic. It’s important that you get this material in the form of small beads. In my on-site research of plastic extrusion, I have learned several different words from the industry’s lingo! The raw thermoplastic in this form is popularly referred to as “resin.”
The next step is getting the resin into what is really the beginning of the machinery process, the barrel. The best and most widely used way of going about this is using a hopper. A hopper is special in that it gravity feeds the thermoplastic resin needed to make plastic molded products. In order to make a more attractive plastic product, before placing the resin in the hopper, add colorants to jazz things up!
Once a specialist operates the hopper, successfully feeding the resin into the barrel, it meets what is called a “feedthroat.” All a feedthroat essentially is, is an opening at the rear bottom of the barrel. The resin travels through the feedthroat and it meets an industrial-sized screw. The screw pushes the resin at generally 120 rpm back into the barrel, which then begins to gradually heat itself.
Your typical industrial plastic extruder will come complete with cooling fans. The cooling fans aid in keeping the temperature below the degree that the specialists input at the start of the process. Also, the industrial screw is quite a complex piece of machinery. There are five possible zones in the screw, but since the jargon isn’t international, you will sometimes a couple of different names for them.
Towards the front of the barrel, the now melted plastic is pushed down the length of the screw. It passes through several screens so as to remove any contaminants in the melt (this is very important!). These screens are held in place by what’s called a “breaker plate”, which is a flat, circular piece of the machine that has many holes drilled into it.
The next step, and arguably the most important, is what follows the filtering process. Once it is filtered and the molten thermoplastic is free to flow through the large holes in the breaker plate, it enters the die. The die is so important due to the fact that it sets the profile for the plastic product that the plastic company wants to make. It’s a really great device, and incredibly interesting to see in action!
At this point in the plastic extrusion procedure, a specialist must watch to make sure the molten thermoplastic flow is steady. Even the littlest bit of unsteadiness can accidentally cause flaws in the plastic! If these stresses are too visible, they may completely ruin a particular piece of plastic. No company wants a waste, so making sure to pay attention to this is vital.
Finally, we move on from the machine to the cooling process. This is where specialists from the polymer manufacturer really come in handy. Plastic Products can be really difficult to cool down, as plastic is an excellent thermal insulator. Plastic extrusion is quite an interesting process, it’s amazing how many things can come from it!
USA Hockey Video “Off-Ice Stickhandling” (part 1)
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Hard Core Hockey: Essential Skills, Strategies, and Systems from the Sport’s Top Coaches $9.98 “Coach Pecknold has created a no-gimmicks system for teaching skills and strategy that gets players to the next level.” –George Gwozdecky, head coach of the University of Denver men’s ice hockey team, and 2005 National Coach of the Year Hard Core Hockey is an all-in-one guide to playing high-caliber hockey from a veritable who’s who of the world’s top coaches. Including advanced skating… |
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Hockey Drills for Puck Control $17.95 A manual of hockey drills for puck control, which offers ideas and suggestions to refine and challenge even the most experienced player, and describes ways in which to perform 70 drills at a faster pace and using less space…. |
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Pat Duggan: 70 Ultimate Drills and Skills: Stickhandling, Puck Control, Moves & Fakes (DVD) $29.99 with Pat Duggan, St. Louis AAA Amateur Blues Head Coach In this comprehensive 4-section video, Coach Duggan shares more than 70 drills to improve puck skills! Duggan’s instructional methodology includes thorough teaching of the skill that includes both technical and strategic components followed by skill/drill demonstration with varied age players. Duggan also shares game scenarios where using th… |
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Hockey Stick Handling Skills Trainer Super Sweethands $149.99 SweetHands is an innovative hockey skills training aid which will: - increase your stickhandling speed and timing This enables you to achieve better puck control and feel. The SweetHands Stickhandling Trainer comes in eight one foot sections to provide several configuration options. Our products are well suited for both off ice and on ice training (removab… |
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Hockey Stick Handling Skills Trainer Sweethands $139.99 SweetHands is an innovative hockey skills training aid which will: - increase your stickhandling speed and timing This enables you to achieve better puck control and feel. The SweetHands Stickhandling Trainer comes in eight one foot sections to provide several configuration options. Our products are well suited for both off ice and on ice training (removab… |
