Converting

Granulating blades endure some of the most grueling conditions in the size reduction industry. Granulating hard plastics, paper, and other materials dull knives and lead to frequent blade changes. During this maintenance action, the machine is down and production is halted.

However, precision sharpening of these blades dramatically increases both the life of the blade and improves the output of the granulator. Machines that utilize precision sharpened blades operate more efficiently, which increases the overall output of the machine while simultaneously creating more consistency in the output

Precision sharpeners utilize sharpening equipment and processes specifically developed for the maintenance of these type of blades. Blades are returned to the customer in like-new condition, in both straightness and tolerance. This ensures

Razor slitting is a versatile cutting method commonly used for creating slit widths of light gauge films, tapes, ribbons, plastics, and non-woven materials. Choosing the right blade material for your razor slitting application ensures that you achieve maximize runtime and blade life while creating ideal cuts.

While many razor slitting operations employ steel blades, there are distinct advantages to upgrading to a tungsten carbide or zirconia ceramic blade.

Dramatically Increase Wear Life

Both tungsten carbide and zirconia ceramic blades provide significantly improved wear life over carbon steel blades. In fact, operators switching from carbon steel to tungsten carbide or zirconia ceramic can expect wear life to increase by 50 to 500 times.

Slitting operations halt during blade changes, decreasing overall production. Razor slitting blades are extremely

Films, vinyl, fabrics, non-wovens, laminates, paper, and heavy film are often manufactured onto large, bulk material rolls. These rolls are too large to utilize in the end product, so the material is converted into smaller rolls for final production using a process called slitting.

During the slitting process, the material on a master or parent roll is unwound and cut into specific widths (slit widths) by traveling through a series of blades. Razor slitting, crush cut slitting, and shear slitting are the three most common types.

Razor Slitting

Razor slitting is easy and inexpensive to set up and is commonly used to convert films, plastics, tapes, ribbons, and vinyl. Using razor slitting, the material can be converted into very narrow slit widths and still produce very little dust, making it one of the cleanest methods of slitting.

The blades used for razor slitting are inexpensive and require more frequent changes than with other types of

Maintaining high-quality, slitter knives improves both the production output and quality of your slitting processes. When selecting a slitter knife manufacturer, look for one with the experience to evaluate your entire slitting process operation, make recommendations to improve blade lifetime and cut quality, and supply you with slitting knives that meet the unique needs of your business.

Slitter Blade Sharpening

Sharpening your slitter blades allows you to extend the life of your current blades and decrease knife replacement costs. When sharpened by a professional, precision sharpening knife manufacturer, slitting blades are returned to like-new condition at a fraction of the cost of purchasing new knives. All that is required to sharpen slitting blades is to establish a relationship with a precision sharpener, collect the blades, and ship them out for sharpening.

When it comes to industrial knives and blades, material selection matters. The purchase of industrial machine knives and blades is often driven by price because the decision-maker is unaware of the benefits of using a different and more suitable material. Let's be honest, two knives of different materials look very similar. Sometimes, it's very difficult to tell them apart. But, the fact is that materials behave differently in cutting applications.

Varying factors contribute to the decision to use a different material. Those factors range from a need for better wear resistance, more accurate cutting, or superior slit quality just to name a few. One recurrent customer question across all of the industries we serve is how to get better performance and life out of industrial machines knives and blades. And, our answer is always the same. "It depends on what your goals are for your cut quality and consistency." After that quick answer, we invest the time with our customers

To optimize your granulator production and adequately plan for downtime, understand when your granulator blades are performing as efficiently as possible and when a maintenance action may soon be required. For granulating operations, performing preventative maintenance can save hours of unplanned downtime and increase the safety of the processing environment. However, for many granulators, maintenance is performed just-in-time (JIT), which requires recognizing the early warning signs of a maintenance condition.

Proper preparation prevents poor performance. - Charlie Batch

Is Your Granulator Working Too Hard?

As granulator blades dull, the granulator requires more electricity to perform. Check amp readings of your granulator just after maintenance is performed and note the values.

Films, vinyl, fabrics, non-wovens, laminates, paper, and heavy film are often manufactured onto large, bulk material rolls. These rolls are too large to utilize in the end product, so the material is converted into smaller rolls for final production using a process called slitting.

During the slitting process, the material on a master or parent roll is unwound and cut into specific widths (slit widths) by traveling through a series of blades. Razor slitting, crush cut slitting, and shear slitting are the three most common types.

Razor Slitting

Razor slitting is easy and inexpensive to set up and is commonly used to convert films, plastics, tapes, ribbons, and vinyl. Using razor slitting, the material can be converted into very narrow slit widths and still produce very little dust, making it one of the cleanest methods of slitting.

The blades used for razor slitting are inexpensive and require more frequent changes than with other types of

Optimizing the performance of your converting blades allows you to obtain the longest life, highest quality cuts, and maintain cutting efficiency. Blades that meet the ideal specifications for your converting machine and cutting material provide optimum performance and contribute to increased uptime to ensure the highest outputs.

Changing your current knife selection is not the only way to increase your converting knife performance. Often, the best choice is to upgrade your existing knife to provide better performance, lifetime, and efficiency.

Upgrade Blade Material

Evaluating and adjusting the blade material of your converting knife can dramatically increase the efficiency of your converting machine. If you are experiencing low runtime, low lifetime, or machine inefficiencies, changing to a new blade material may be the solution you need.

For example, many operators who are experiencing very low blade lifetime are using carbon steel converting