Most modern industrial units prefer to have on-site corrugators because of cost and speed advantages. If you also have installed or are looking to install a corrugator machine in your manufacturing unit, you should be very careful in choosing the corrugating rolls for the machines. A high quality roll will go a long way in improving the overall efficiency of the corrugator. If you choose precision ground, profiled rolls, they will be able to deliver very high quality fluting because they work with very strict tolerances. Even in cases where there is usage of a lot of extra volume of old corrugated cardboard, which generally leads to a lot of wear on the corrugating rolls, very high quality rolls will be able to offer much longer service life. Moreover when you regularly spray high wear resistance coating solutions on the equipment, both the performance of the machine as well as overall life of the rolls improves very significantly. Here are a few tips for making sure that your machine rolls last longer and give you best quality output:
Choosing the right manufacturer and input for corrugating rolls.
First of all, it is very important to buy your corrugating rolls from a highly reputed manufacturer. Look for a company that has long experience in manufacturing of the rolls. The company should be doing roll manufacturing on advanced machines that offer reduction in shell cracking to ensure that the rolls last longer. Similarly, the roll shaft should also be very high quality so it can sustain stresses of ongoing manufacturing for a long time. Further the company should not be using no-bolt sealing to ensure uniformity in surface. Parabolic crowning is another feature that must be present to make the roll last longer.
Second factor is to make sure that cardboard or any other material that is to be corrugated is well prepared before it is placed in the corrugation press. Use of improper input material is perhaps the single most common reason why corrugation rolls wear so fast and that companies have to replace them very often. Not only does it result in ongoing downtimes but also has an impact on other parts and systems of the corrugating machine.
Corrugating Rolls alignment and positioning tips
Next, the rolls must be properly aligned in the machine at all times. These are high precision devices which come with very tight tolerances. As the roll continues to be used, over a period of time, it will tend to get misaligned and while things will not be noticeable for some time, the life of the roll will start to shorten first slowly but gradually very fast. It is important for the technician operating the corrugating machine to be trained to keep an eye on roll alignment and you should also have time scheduled to examine the roll position and realign them on a regular basis.
Another factor is that the corrugating rolls should always be examined for uneven wear and tear which may be caused because of external factors. Ideally a roll should always experience a uniform level of wear, however if you are noticing that one side or area of your rolls is wearing faster than others, you need to isolate the problem and solve it very fast because not only will the shorten the life of the rolls but it will also lead to problems for the machine as a whole.
When your corrugating rolls are not supposed to be used for some time, it becomes important that they are stored after cleaning so that there is no dust accumulation which can lead to build of grime or even any kind of oxidation. The rolls must always be stored in a dry place.
