This custom traveling knife consists of an unwind/rewind unit, a custom roll feeder and a knife assembly. The traveling knife is a circular rotary knife assembly that can cut a thin film and a thick, dense material. The rotary blade, made from tool steel, will be cut up against the solid hardened tool steel anvil. The knife assembly is capable of cutting in one direction. Upon customer actuation, it can return and cut in the opposite direction.
A shear cut blade gives the cleanest cut and is the recommended blade choice for most applications. The cutting force is not limited by pneumatic preload on the cutter
AZCO Corporation has designed a shear cut traveling knife assembly ideal for material 1600mm wide and 3mm-55mm thick. This cut to length unit is built to feed the material all the way through the knife assembly. A precision ground urethane drive top roller supplies a force which provides positive traction between the material and the drive system. The brushless servo motor provides high accuracy and low maintenance.
A 1600mm [55”] traveling knife assembly shear cuts the material to size. The knife assembly is servo driven with linear guides for extra strength and support. Easy to use, the unit can be bolted right into an existing process. A color touch screen is used to set up the unit. PLC controls run the servo motor drive and the entire process. To interface the unit to the process, a loop sensor is used. When material is present, the unit will operate; if there is no material, it will wait.
Requires 110V AC single phase power, 15 amp current, and 80psi compressed air.
This application required unwinding and precisely cutting pieces lamination film in roll form.
Material: 3mm clear EZ Load polyester lamination film (including .0015 in. EVA adhesive) with a thickness of .003”
Our Solution:
AZCO Corp. designed and manufactured a custom 2 level cut-to-length assembly with a motorized unwind and web guide to precisely cut pieces of lamination film in roll form.
The roll of material is loaded onto a motorized cantilever unwind.
The unwind is mounted onto a linear slide assembly.
From the unwind, the material travels over an idler roller assembly.
An optic sensor monitors the position of the web and position of the unwind to maintain the edge position.
A servo motor actuator is used to position the unwind.
Material then travels through the dancer accumulator and will be guided to the lower level and into the customer provided laser station.
The material is pulled into the cut-to-length station by highly accurate precision ground drive rollers.
The top idle roller will be urethane and pneumatically preloaded while the lower drive roller will be stainless steel.
A static ionizer is placed in between the nip rollers and knife assembly.
An air pressure sensor monitors the pressure to the nip rollers.
An analog card is added to the control panel to transmit information to the customer provided HMI.
The material is guided into the cut-to-length assembly where shear cut blades precisely cut the material.
The customer provided robot grips the material and removes the cut piece.
Once the material has been removed, the next piece will index into position and wait for the robot.
A no product sensor is installed to monitor the web process.
Unit requires 208VAC 3-Phase and 80psi compressed air.
This modular knife assembly can be made to any size up to 5.5m/18′ cut width. It has a rotary crush cut blade for perforating, crush cutting, or score cutting of the material. Also available is the rotary shear cut blade, which could be used in place of the crush cut blade, which cuts against a hardened anvil. Two actuators are available: a pneumatic system or a digital electric drive package.
The cutting process starts with the material entering the unit up to the specified length. Then the clamp secures the material in place as the blade travels straight across the web for a clean cut. End-of-stroke sensors indicate when the cut has come to each end, which allows the unit to cut in either direction.
This modular knife assembly can be made to any size up to 5.5m/18′ cut width. It has a rotary shear cut blade which cuts against a hardened anvil. Also available is the crush cut blade, which could be used in place of the shear cut blade for perforating, crush cutting, or score cutting of the material. Two actuators are available: a pneumatic system or a digital electric drive package.
The cutting process starts with the material entering the unit up to the specified length. Then the clamp secures the material in place as the blade travels straight across the web for a clean cut. End-of-stroke sensors indicate when the cut has come to each end, which allows the unit to cut in either direction.
This unit required precisely unwinding, slitting and cutting pieces of nylon and fiberglass materials from a roll form.
Material:
Nylon (0.004”)
PES| Polyethersulfone (0.0055”)
Fiberglass (0.020” – 0.030”)
Material Thickness: 0.004” to 0.030”
Our Solution:
AZCO Corp. designed and manufactured a cut-to-length assembly with slitter station, roll feeder and unwind stations to precisely unwind, slit and cut pieces of nylon and fiberglass materials from a roll form.
Individual rolls of material are loaded onto each of the cantilevered unwind assemblies based on material thickness.
The cantilevered design allows for quick and easy loading of materials.
Flanges can be removed and locked in place without any tools.
Unwind stations have a variable speed motor and control panel.
From the unwinds, the three individual layers of material travel through a dancer accumulator.
Each idler roller has a no product sensor that will automatically shut the unit down when no product is sensed traveling from the unwind stations.
Customer’s sonic welding unit will weld all three layers of material before being pulled into the slitter station.
The welded material is then pulled into the slitter station by a set of precision urethane rollers.
The modular design includes precision machined side frame plates.
Rotary shear blades are set at fixed lengths from customer parameters.
Rotary shear blades provide long life and clean cuts.
Layered material is then slit into individual strips.
The slit material is then pulled into the cut-to-length station.
Slit material is then cut into precise pieces.
Cut pieces fall down a short safety enclosed exit chute.
A jam sensor will automatically shut the unit down when there is no product sensed exiting the knife assembly.
Knife assembly is contained in clear safety guarding.
The unit has a color touch screen for easy setup and operation
All components are mounted to a common aluminum frame.
Unit requirements: Power requirement: 110VAC 50-60Hz [220VAC available upon request] Air requirements: 2.75-6 bar [40-90 PSI]
This system cuts diagnostic strips from rolls into individual pieces.
The material will be loaded onto a cantilevered unwind that will allow for quick and easy loading.
After being un-wound, the web will travel through a dance assembly that will be used to help monitor web tension and increase overall cut consistency. The roll feed will be mounted on an angle and servo driven. This will provide the web index control and push the material into the knife assembly. There will then be a plasma coated material guides and a registration eye to see the markings on each strip. The material can be indexed based on either dimensions or a registration mark on the material.
The knife assembly will shear the material and be designed to bring the knife as close to the conveyor as possible. This will allow for a cut and place in one single motion. There will be a material guide that is spring loaded to place the strip felt side up onto the conveyor. The blade and clamp will rise before they reach the point of strip placement.
There will also be a registration eye mounted to see each cleat on the conveyor and signal the unit to cycle. The entire assembly will be mounted on a ½” thick anodized aluminum base plate with the control box mounted perpendicularly to the base plate.
Simple to operate, this smaller linear shear cutter eliminates the need for cutting boards and scissors. This modular unit can be mounted in any position for convenient operation and is ready to install as a stand-alone or in-line unit.
