By Olivia Cahoon
Part 2 of 2
Wide format print service providers (PSPs) invest in converting equipment such as roll slitting and rewinding to eliminate outsourcing while controlling inventory. Devices are available as standalone slitters, separate rewinders, or a combination of the two.
Before selecting a converting device, PSPs should determine their converting needs by looking at commonly completed applications.
Converting Equipment
The ALS S-Tec automatic roll slitter uses a hydraulic slitting action and a servo indexing system for accurate slitting. Designed for tape distributors and converters, it handles materials up to 83 inches wide with a 28-inch diameter. The roll slitter also has the ability to cut up to four different widths per cycle. A full-color touch screen and programmable logic control (PLC) with large memory capacity stores cutting parameters for each product including blade/mandrel speed and directions, three variable cutting rates, cut widths and blade angles, grinder frequency, spraying frequency, and batch counter. The S-Tec slits a variety of log materials such as cork, foam, foil, graphite, non-woven textiles, polyester, pressure-sensitive tapes, PVC, self-adhesive materials, rubber, technical tapes, and vinyl.
Available from Cevenini USA LLC, the TNF 7 automatic log slitter with toothed blade cutting system is designed to cut logs of polyethylene, coated and non-coated plastic films, protective tape, and silicone paper. Fully automatic—with the exception of loading and unloading the material—a scissor lift allows the roll of media or log to be raised to the same height as the shaft on the machine. Its working width is 70 inches, however Cevenini does offer customization.
Lever Manufacturing Corporation offers the Lever model LS-6200, a heavy duty, automatic, single knife roll slitter that handles a range of materials without rewinding. The LS-6200 is designed to provide dependable, long-term performance in continuous production environments with minimal maintenance requirements. It features PLC operation with a ten-inch color touch screen operator control panel for ease of operation, training, and machine function selection. The LS-6200 also features AC inverter drives for knife and chuck speed control. A servomotor powered lead screw provides precise speed tolerance of more or less than 0.003 inches and smooth, fast knife carriage movement. The device slits rolls up to 20 inches in outside diameter. Lever slitters are manufactured in the U.S. and are backed by technical support.
Ribamatic’s Top 50 fully automatic roll slitting machine is developed for processing any kind of materials in rolls. It includes one cutting head with the ability to slit up to 24 inches in diameter and a length of 200 inches. The cutting head glides on thin linear roll bearings on the frame, which features a pneumatic brake to set the “off” position by a button.
The Rosenthal Manufacturing Co., Inc. RS Roll Slitter is a manual roll slitter for quickly slitting wide rolls onto narrower rolls. It offers optional add-on features such as rewinding and length counter depending on the PSP’s needs. It works on flexible materials such as banner vinyl, pre-mask, PSV, sublimation paper, tape, and most digital print media. The Rosenthal RS Roll Slitter is available in various width capacities from less than one meter up to five meters. The device features easy loading patented expansion ring to lock rolls in place without tools. It is also designed to last for decades, is made in the U.S., and offers spare parts.
Supply55, Inc. released the NEPATA UA1650 ADWS Converting Center in December 2018. It offers 99.9 percent accuracy on rewinding, full lot number traceability, remainder roll management, 64-inch rewinding, and onboard cross cutting. The device features a 74-inch slitter, automatic pneumatic tensioning, slitting head lubrication system, laser and digital slitting alignment, and rewinding speeds up to 300 feet per minute. The NEPATA UA1650 ADWS handles all types of roll media including application tape, banner, film, flock, heat transfer vinyl, magnetic media, masking films, mesh, paper, reflective films, Teflon, VHB tape, vinyl, and window tint film. All NEPATA machines are built to order based on the application.
Convert Efficiently
A number of market share players make up the converting space. While roll slitting and rewinding are most suited for PSPs in wide format, converting devices also offer functions such as coating, embossing, laminating, and stamping.
Click here to read part one of this exclusive online series, Slitting & Rewinding.
Nov2019, Digital Output
