|
This laminating smoothing press has a fixed lower roller and a floating upper roller. The upper roller is designed to provide enough pressure to eliminate blisters, wrinkles and bubbles that may be trapped between the substrates, giving a high quality lamination. The pressure is sufficient enough to squeeze out the bubbles on the laminated material, but does not exert excessive pressure that would crush the flutes on corrugated or collapse foam core board.
The floating upper roll can follow variations in substrate thickness while maintaining consistent nip pressure. Both rolls are powered to provide positive pulling force and eliminate any slippage between the layers of the lamination. The nip rollers are covered with a urethane rubber for positive grip and to conform to surface imperfections in the lamination substrate. Rolls can be separated for cleaning or shutdown periods.
The smoothing press is powered by a D.C. variable speed drive. Top speed is approximately 60 feet per minute but it can also be operated at lower speeds to match the output of the adjoining machinery.
Several optional versions of the smoothing press are available. For situations where higher pressure is needed between the nip rolls the machine can be built with weight added to the upper roll frame, or it can be fitted with air cylinders to squeeze the rolls together. Another version is available with an adjustable opening of up to 6" between nip rolls; this is ideal for foam fabrication work.
LAMINATION STATION 
One unique concept we were able to employ with the smoothing press was to combine this unit with the RT Series Roll coater forming a complete lamination station. The lamination station was developed in response to the need to improve the quality of bonds using hotmelt adhesive while reducing the labor required for assembly. The machine is designed for laminating sheeted goods to a layer of material supplied in rolls. It can be used for combining sheets of plastic, corrugated or foam to thin materials such as paper, cloth, foam or film.
The lamination station combines the RT series roll coater, a smoothing press and a payout roll to form a laminating line. The speeds of the coater and nip rolls are matched through an electronic control. The roll material is fed through a dancer arm system and up to the smoothing press.
In operation, the sheet is fed into the RT coater, which applies adhesive to the bottom surface. The sheet travels only a few inches until it hits the thin material and enters the nip rollers. The nip rollers pull the combined sheets through, squeezing them together. Since the nip rollers are to set to pull only when both sheets are present, the combined sheets feed until the thicker sheet clears the press rolls, then stops until the next sheet enters the rolls.
The lamination station is able to combine sheets at a high rate of speed since the labor and time involved in sheet placement is eliminated. The quality of the bonds between the sheets is also improved drastically since the sheets are combined within a split second of being coated, and the adhesive is still hot. In some cases, parts that cannot be combined manually can be successfully laminated using the lamination station.
For gluing and laminating materials that must run as sheets, the coating section can be disconnected and the two units run as separate machines. When this is done, the speed on each machine can be adjusted individually to fit the type of parts being done. Disconnecting and reconnecting of the two units takes only a few seconds, but adds a tremendous amount of versatility to the lamination station.
|
