PP straw extruder for beach mats: LG55/2 and LG55/4

A PP straw extruder melts polypropylene raw material and draws it out into hollow plastic straw — the weft that a jacquard loom weaves into a beach mat. It is step 1 of a mat line, and the machine the rest of the line waits on, because a loom cannot run a single pass without straw to lay across the warp. Wenzhou Xiangyi Machinery builds it as the LG55 series in two versions: the LG55/2, which draws two straws at a time, and the LG55/4, which draws four. Both use a 55 mm screw with a 23:1 length-to-diameter ratio, a 7.5 kW main motor and 15 kW of heating. This guide explains what the machine does, compares the two versions from our catalogue, and sets out how to decide which one — and how many — your line needs.

Key definitions

• Polypropylene (PP). The raw material for the straws of a woven plastic beach mat. It arrives as solid raw material and is melted inside the extruder.
• Hollow straw. The tube the extruder produces. It is hollow rather than solid, which is what gives a woven PP mat its characteristic feel, and it is what the loom handles as weft.
• Weft. The material laid across the width of the mat on every pass of the loom. On a beach mat line the weft is hollow PP straw, so the straw extruder is the machine that supplies it.
• Warp. The yarns running along the length of the mat, which hold the straws in place. The warp is a separate supply, prepared on its own machines; it does not come from the straw extruder.
• Extrusion. Forcing molten plastic continuously through a shaped opening, so that it leaves the machine with the cross-section of that opening — here, a tube.
• Screw. The rotating screw inside the extruder barrel that melts the raw material and pushes it forward. Both LG55 versions use a 55 mm screw.
• L/D ratio. The screw's length divided by its diameter, written as a ratio. Both LG55 versions are 23:1.
• Drawing. Pulling the extruded tube away from the machine and stretching it to its finished dimensions as it cools.
• Straws at a time. How many straws the machine draws simultaneously: two on the LG55/2, four on the LG55/4. This is the figure that separates the two models.

What the LG55 does in the line

The straw extruder is the first step of beach mat production. PP raw material is heated until molten, extruded, and drawn out into hollow plastic straws, which are then woven into mat on the beach mat weaving machine.

That single sentence hides the thing most buyers planning a first line get wrong: a mat line does not run as one straight queue of machines. It has two feeds that run at the same time, and straw extrusion is one of them. The other is warp preparation. Neither waits for the other, and they only meet at the loom, where the jacquard lifts warp ends over each straw as it is laid in. The production line page shows both feeds side by side, and the complete-line guide walks through all six steps in order.

The practical consequence is that the straw extruder is sized against the looms, not against the machines before or after it in a list — because there is nothing before it. PP raw material goes in at one end of the factory and straw comes out ready for the loom.

LG55/2 and LG55/4 compared

Every figure below is as printed in our catalogue.

Model	Straws (pcs)	Screw diameter (mm)	Screw L/D	Main motor (kW)	Heating (kW)	Total power (kW)	Weight (kg)
LG55/2	2	55	23:1	7.5	15	23.5	1000
LG55/4	4	55	23:1	7.5	15	24.5	1100

The two versions share the parts that do the melting: the same screw diameter, the same length-to-diameter ratio, the same main motor and the same heating power. What changes is how many straws are drawn off at once — two or four — with the heavier machine and the slightly higher total power that go with it. So the choice between them is not a choice between a weak machine and a strong one. It is a choice about how much straw you want coming off one extruder.

How to choose, in order

1. Fix the looms first. List the jacquard weaving machine models you intend to run and how many of each. The loom side of the line is what consumes straw, so it sets the requirement; the extruder answers it.
2. Allow for mat width. A wider mat takes a longer length of straw on every pass. The XY-KTC range runs from 900 to 3000 mm of weaving width, so two factories with the same number of looms can need very different straw supplies.
3. Allow for loom speed. Narrower looms in the range run faster than wider ones, which affects how quickly they consume straw. The table below gives both figures together.
4. Tell us the loom list rather than guessing a straw figure. Send us the models and quantities and we will tell you which LG55 version to take, and how many machines, so that every loom stays fed. This is the one question in a mat line where the arithmetic is worth doing properly before anything is ordered.
5. Check your electrical supply. The catalogue lists 23.5 kW total for the LG55/2 and 24.5 kW for the LG55/4. In a six-machine line, the straw extruder is the largest single electrical load, so confirm the factory's supply against the number of extruders you are planning.
6. Plan the floor space. The machines weigh 1000 kg and 1100 kg, and a straw line needs a clear run for the straw as it is drawn off. Ask us about the installed layout for the version you choose.

Loom width and speed, for sizing the straw supply

Loom	Max. weaving width (mm)	Main shaft speed (r/min)
XY-KTC900	900	80–130
XY-KTC1200	1200	80–120
XY-KTC1500	1500	80–100
XY-KTC1800	1800	80–100
XY-KTC2000	2000	60–90
XY-KTC2200	2200	60–80
XY-KTC2700	2700	60–70
XY-KTC3000	3000	50–60

Read the two columns together. Width rises and speed falls across the range, which is why straw demand per loom cannot be read off either column on its own.

What the straw extruder does not do

It supplies the weft, and only the weft. The warp is a separate matter: warp yarn is either bought in or produced on an SJ-YS monofilament line, and in both cases it has to be wound onto a beam on the ZJ-2000 warping machine before it can be mounted on a loom. If you are planning the warp side as well, the warping machine guide covers that half of the line, and the monofilament extruder guide covers making the yarn yourself.

Xiangyi Machinery makes the straw extruder, the warping machine, the jacquard loom, the mat cutting machine and the monofilament yarn extruder, and supplies the edge sewing machine and the hydraulic baling press to complete a line. Every machine has its own page on the machines page.

Ask us about the straw supply for your line

The full specification is on the plastic straw extruder page. To get a straw extruder recommendation, send us an enquiry with the loom models and quantities you plan to run, the mat widths you want to sell, and the voltage and power available at your factory. If you already have looms running and are adding or replacing an extruder, tell us what is installed and we will match the new machine to it.