It's No Piece of Cake

It's not a simple two-step process, but many suppliers are offering slitter/rewinders that help converters simplify and manage all of their slitting/rewinding needs.

SLITTING/REWINDING IS an everyday aspect of the package-printing job, often taken for granted as a necessary evil. But, behind this mundane reality are technologies that can impact a company's bottom line. From heavy-duty knives to wide-diameter rewind rolls, there are multiple components to each slitter/rewinder machine. packagePRINTING spoke with several suppliers about this off-press component of the package-printing job and the machines that help make it possible.

Films, papers, and foils

With a wide array of substrates dominating the package-printing industry, converters need versatile slitter/rewinders that can handle the variety of substrates on which they are printing.

Aztech Machinery's (Scottsdale, Ariz.) BSR Sidewinder series is engineered for the label, printing, and converting industries. It comes in a web width range of 10-18˝, a 40˝ unwind diameter, and a 30˝ rewind diameter. It also reaches speeds up to 750 ft./min. Other features include a heavy-duty, cantilever-designed mainframe; a choice of rotary shear or razor slitting; a base unit slitting station with three blades of choice; electronic distance counter; and an ultrasonic web guide.

Valmet Converting (Charlotte, N.C.) offers converters its Titan SMLA series, a free-standing and semi-automatic narrow-width slitter/rewinder for films, papers, laminates, and label substrates. The one-person operational system features adjustable, reusable rewind characteristics, full observation, and accessible cutting station, and rewind shafts. The slit reel is unloadable in approximately 50 seconds, and roll changes are simple. The system includes Windows NT software with a touch-screen interface. Specific measurements include a rewind diameter of 800 mm, an unwind diameter of 1,000 mm, and a web width of 800 mm, with speeds up to 450 m/min.

The FSL series from HCI Converting Equipment Co. (Taichung, Taiwan) offers converters two economical slitter/rewinders (FSL-1000 and FSL-1300) for slitting/rewinding various papers, films, and printed materials. The FSL series features: steel upper and lower circular knives; horizontal swing-out unwind and rewind shafts for easy management by a single operator; a single winding rewind system that eliminates uneven material thickness; automatic tension control for accurate and consistent material tension from start to finish; and a centrally located control panel. Both models allow a maximum diameter of 400 mm, and are equipped with flat and circular knives.