New investment. Uncompromising precision. Profiles built to perform.

Lead extrusion is one of the most technically demanding processes in specialist metals manufacturing and one of the areas where Royston Lead has invested significantly to stay at the forefront.

The result is an extrusion capability that serves some of the world’s most exacting industries from nuclear shielding, metals refining and medical physics to heritage architecture and industrial process engineering with the quality and reliability those applications demand.

A Major Step Forward in Extrusion Capability

“Royston Lead recently commissioned a new, state-of-the-art billet caster and extruder this is a significant capital investment that represents our commitment to manufacturing excellence and our confidence in the future of specialist lead production.”

The new equipment expands both the precision and the range of profiles we can produce, allowing us to control the entire process from billet casting through to finished extruded profile, within our facility in South Yorkshire.

By casting our own billets in-house, we control the metallurgical quality of the raw material. This end-to-end control over the production process is a direct advantage to our customers: consistent alloy composition, consistent dimensional accuracy, and the confidence that comes from knowing exactly where your product has come from and how it has been made.

Standard Extruded Lead Profiles

Our extrusion capability covers a wide range of standard profiles with established industrial and architectural applications. Each profile is produced to consistent dimensional tolerances and available in a range of lead alloy compositions to suit specific performance requirements.

Chevron Rail

Extruded lead chevron rail is used in the construction of interlocking radiation shielding systems for the nuclear, medical and research sectors. The chevron profile is precision-engineered to interlock without gaps ensuring that no direct radiation path exists through a correctly constructed wall or bunker. Our extruded chevron rail is produced to close tolerances, ensuring consistent interlock geometry across the full length of every profile and from batch to batch.

Lead Rod

Extruded lead rod is a versatile product with a wide range of industrial, chemical, and process engineering applications. The extrusion process produces a rod with a dense, uniform cross-section and a smooth, consistent surface finish. Supplied in straight lengths, lead rod is used in applications including nuclear medicine pots, counterbalancing, chemical processing environments where lead’s corrosion resistance is required, and as feedstock for further machining or fabrication.

Star Pipe

Star pipe is a hollow extruded lead profile with a distinctive multi-lobe internal geometry. These are used in specialist applications where both the material properties of lead and the internal surface geometry of the pipe are important to performance. The extrusion process allows the complex internal profile to be produced accurately and consistently across the full length of the product. Applications include specialist process pipework, exhaust gasses and custom engineering solutions.

Exhaust Pipes for Gases

Extruded lead pipe for gas exhaust applications exploits lead’s excellent corrosion resistance and its impermeability to a wide range of aggressive chemicals and gases species. Our extruded gas exhaust pipe is produced with consistent wall thickness and bore geometry, ensuring reliable flow performance and structural integrity throughout the pipe’s service life.

Architectural Sash Weights

Lead sash weights are used to counterbalance the glazed panels of traditional sliding sash windows, one of the defining features of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian architecture.

Our extruded sash weights are produced with a smooth, consistent surface and accurate cross-sectional dimensions, making them suitable for both restoration of existing period windows and for new-build architectural projects that specify traditional sash window construction. Supplied in standard profiles and cut to weight. Custom profiles can be produced for non-standard applications.

Beyond the Standard Range: Bespoke Profile Development

“If you can specify it, our engineers can extrude it. We work directly with customers to develop bespoke lead profiles for applications where no standard product exists — or where a standard product would mean compromising on performance.”

Our engineering team has the experience to take a customer’s requirement and translate it into an extruded lead solution. We work collaboratively through the design and development process, from initial feasibility and die design through to first-article approval and production. And because we cast our own billets, we also have the freedom to develop bespoke alloy compositions.

Quality You Can Rely On

Every extruded lead profile we produce is subject to our rigorous in-house quality control regime. Dimensional verification, surface inspection, and material certification are standard. For safety-critical applications in the nuclear and medical sectors, we can provide full material traceability from billet casting through to finished product.

Our manufacturing operations are ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 accredited, and we work to customer-specified quality plans where required. If your application demands a particular quality standard, testing regime or certification requirement, talk to us.