Light Metal Age (LMA) is pleased to announce that, as the main media sponsor of ALUMINIUM USA 2017, we will be exhibiting at the trade show, which will be held on October 25-26 at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
We welcome visitors to Booth #231 to receive complimentary copies of our October 2017 issue of the magazine, which features articles focused on the continued growth of aluminum in the automotive industry and aluminum extrusion manufacturing. This includes an overview of the explosive expansion of aluminum projects to support automotive in Kentucky, an overview of the new Ducker Report projecting unprecedented growth for automotive aluminum, a look a recent facility expansions such as Taber Extrusions’ upgraded casthouse and Gateway Extrusions’ new press and vertical painting lines, and information on how to optimize your business with articles focused on Defect Affecting Extrusions, Extrusion Press Maintenance, and Casthouse Management — along with other great content.
Conference
ALUMINUM USA will host an aluminum conference in two “learning theaters” on the trade show floor. The conference will provide a program of educational sessions on technology and development in the aluminum industry.
LME editor, Joseph C. Benedyk, will moderate a featured panel during the conference. The panel, “Competing in Today’s Global Aluminum Market,” will be held on October 26th, from 10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. in Learning Theater 2 (Booth #1041).
An overview of the aluminum conference schedule can be found online.
Celebrating Our 75th
LMA will be celebrating 75 years of continuous publication during the ALUMINUM USA trade show. Since 1943, LMA has consistently delivered hi-quality content, making it the premier magazine of the aluminum industry. (Learn more about our history and growth.)
As part of the celebration, LMA will be offering special gifts to select visitors at the show — including an engraved aluminum coaster and a cast aluminum car.
The engraved aluminum coasters are being created by Winston Moy, who described himself as a digital fabrication evangelist. He runs an educational YouTube channel for hobby machinists and operates a small prototyping shop out of his garage called the Machine Shop of Horrors. For the set of custom aluminum drink coasters he designed for LMA, he combined multiple fabrication processes. Starting from aluminum plate stock, coaster blanks were waterjet cut, before undergoing a secondary machining process to add a pocketed recess on the back face. After being hand finished to a smooth appearance, the coaster blanks were sent off to be anodized, then laser engraved. Lastly, a layer of cork was applied to the bottom to complete the coasters.
The cast aluminum cars are being manufactured by Hoselton Studio. The company was formed almost 50 years ago by brothers Gord and Carl Hoselton, who first developed an aluminum casting process to make unique sculptures. Today, Hoselton Studio is owned and operated by Jan Hoselton. Produced from the studio in Colborne, Ontario, the freeform sculptures and custom designs that make up the Hoselton collections are the creation of a dedicated “family” of artisans. The process of making a new sculpture involves the carving of an original image, which is then made into a mould using a process known as sandcasting. Then a molten aluminum alloy at a temperature of 1,200°F is poured into the mould and allowed to cool. A long polishing process, including at least three different hand-polishing steps, giving each sculpture a soft, lustrous, non-tarnish finish that typifies a Hoselton sculpture. The occasional minute pit created by the casting process testifies to the artisan’s technique and makes no two pieces exactly alike.
