Following its success in solving handling problems around slitters and winders at two prominent UK manufacturing plants, The Reel and Shaft Handling Co has received further orders for its bespoke handling equipment.
The company recently installed a system to cover the unwind and rewind of an embosser at the Tullis Russell Paper Mill in Markinch. The lightweight system comprises a Weston-Mk5 Shaft lifter and hoist suspended from a lightweight Movomech aluminium rail system. This allows operators to pick up a 90kg airshaft direct from the wound reel at the rewind and transfer it back to the unwind for insertion into the new reel. All this is carried out with minimal ‘finger-light’ effort, from the operator, with all controls for the hoist and grip/release of the shaft being built into a compact and ergonomic control box. The hoist and actuators are all pneumatic, making the system suitable for ATEX Zone 2 applications.
The second installation, at the Alcan Packaging plant in Cumbria, addressed the problem of operators handling vertical reels up to 50kg, coming from the slitters onto pallets. A key factor was the problem of coping with different reel and core sizes, whilst allowing quick engagement/disengagement.
The obvious solution was to modify a vacuum lifter to seal the cores and lift reels vertically by applying vacuum to the reel end. However, the wide variation in reel sizes and weights meant that the lifting speeds could vary dramatically from reel to reel. The solution was to use a rotary throttle controlled lifting head. This was immediately familiar to operators and, with minimal training, they were able to control the movement and hover the reels in mid-air allowing them to be wrapped.
Two vacuum handling systems covering two packing stations were installed on a common Movomech rail system supported from twin cantilever frames.
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