Slitter Man

Closed Loop Tension Control  describes of the systems we use to accurately control the tension of materials running through slitting and winding machines ; the simplest description of the process that I can come up with for the purposes of this blog post is thus: When we utilise Closed Loop Tension Control on a machine load cell (sensors) are installed on key parts of the machine, these load cells measure the actual tension of the materials being wound as it passes through the machine.  The information fed back from the load cells is then used by the control system to make precise adjustments to the machine to attain perfect tension throughout the slitting or rewinding process. Now I'll be the first to admit that the above paragraph is hardly a snappy explanation of a process that is essential to controlling substrate tension, so I'm going to try and simplify even further by explaining why you might want closed loop tension control rather than explaining how it works (...

Trim / waste disposal is a subject that is integral to efficient winding, but conceptually it can be a bit difficult to explain to customers who aren't familiar with managing waste. A lot of companies go to great lengths to try and minimise the amount of waste they generate, which makes sense as far as economics and environmental awareness, but sometimes waste cannot be avoided. The video below shows a trim winder that was a part of a l arge slitter we recently built for a regular customer of ours.  This slitter rewinder was designed to convert large rolls of metallized polyester, which is supplied on rolls that are not coated the full width of the web, so a trim needs to be cut off during the winding / slitting process.  Some customers wind trim waste material onto cores on the rewind shafts, and some let narrow trims fall to the floor, but while both options are workable both can be problematic for operators and potentially damaging to materials. Trim winders l...

A (used) 6" differential ball chuck designed to fit a 60mm rewind shaft (once the 3" chucks have been removed!) I sometimes use this personal blog of mine to talk about the basics of slitting and rewinding, with the content partly led by thinking back to the questions I had when I first started working in the converting machinery industry.  One of the first questions I had was 'how on earth can slitter rewinders with 3" rewind shafts be used for winding onto 6" cores?' A lot of converters and labellers / packaging companies regularly switch between winding onto 3" (76mm) and 6" (152mm) cores, which is one of the reasons we designed our Automatic Core Cutter to change between core sizes in under thirty seconds.  But what do companies who predominantly wind onto 3" cores do when they need to wind onto 6" cores?  The answer is actually quite simple - they remove the 3" ball chucks and slide on 6" core chucks!  There are of...

We are about to publish a new company brochure and I'd like the readers of my blog (and my Twitter followers) the chance to be the first to receive a copy.  If you would like a copy of our new brochure please email brochure@ucel.co.uk and I'll send a copy over right away.