Stent Crimping Equipment - Blockwise Engineering

Stent Crimping and Radial Compression Machines

	J-Crimp™	patent pending
	Metal dies Very small die-to-die gaps Heated dies available Diameter range 0 to 16 mm Very low friction Application examples: Balloon-expandable stent crimping, bare metal or drug-eluting stents Radial force testing J-Crimp™ white paper

	Zero-G™	patent pending
	Plastic dies Zero die-to-die gap Heating not available Diameter range 0 to 31 mm Moderate friction Application examples: Self-expanding stent crimping & loading Balloon expandable stent crimping Zero-G™ white paper

	M1	patent pending
	Stocked for quick shipment Plastic dies Zero die-to-die gap Hand or Pneumatic Actuation Diameter range 0 to 25 mm Length 38 mm Moderate friction Heating not available Application examples: Stent pre-reduction, low-force stent crimping, general clamping and holding

Zero-G™

Die Material	Hardened Stainless Steel	Ertalyte TX (PET with fluoropolymer lubricant)	Acetal Copolymer
Heating Available?	Yes	No	No
Diameter Range	0 – 16 mm	0 – 31 mm	0 – 25 mm
Lengths Available	62, 124 mm	62, 124, 200, 225 mm	38 mm
Gapping Between Dies	Very Small (~0.05 mm)	Zero	Zero
Maximum Total Radial Force [lbf]	300	250	52
Available As Part of a General-Purpose Stent Crimping Machine?	Yes	Yes	Yes
Balloon pressure & vacuum available on crimping machine?	Yes	Yes	No
Heating available on crimping machine?	Yes	No	No
Available As Part of a Self-Expanding Stent Loading Machine?	No	Yes	No

Other selection advice:

For loading self-expanding stents into a sheath or catheter, choose Zero-G
If heating is required during the compression process, choose J-Crimp
If the stent or product has a fragile surface or coating that may be damaged by pressure from steel dies, and if a sheath is not used, then choose Zero-G or M1
Both Zero-G and M1 have plastic dies, but M1 is far less expensive. Choose M1 if the M1’s size (25 mm x 38 mm) is big enough and if the process doesn’t require large compression forces or balloon pressurization/evacuation. (Primary crimping of balloon-expandable stents normally requires higher forces than M1 can provide.)