The packaging industry helps many other trades, from agriculture to retail. They work with boxes, papers, and other forms of packaging like bottles and containers to store and sell various goods. Their warehouses contain very intricate systems that fold, glue, and piece together packaging and letters in a specific way.
Folder gluer machines carry out most of the heavy work at the center of packaging warehouses, creating an efficient assembly line using a conveyor system. Folder gluer belts control the functionality of the conveyor machine. They ensure that the items move down the assembly line at high and efficient speeds. If the belt fails to operate, the whole production line ceases to function. Read on to explore four folder gluer belt problems and how to fix them to avoid halted productions in your warehouse operations.
Worn or Broken Belt Surfaces
Folder gluer belts operate at high speeds to efficiently glue and fold packaging in mass quantities. Their fast rotations through the pulley system move the assembly line along, but this causes a lot of wear and strain on the belt’s carcass. Broken or worn belts create a domino effect of issues, ranging from product slippage to slower movement speeds. As the main operating component in the system, any damages or issues that occur with the belt further affect the rest of the system, including the gluing, feeding, tracking, and folding of the products.
Potential Causes
Numerous factors can affect the belts, from sharp edges to poor cleaning maintenance. Broken belts often arise from external factors such as the warehouse’s indoor climate, water, moisture, and debris. Depending on the type of material used in your belt, certain compositions are more susceptible to these issues, increasing your chances of damaged, split, dry, torn, or warped belts.
Worn belts can also occur from overuse of the belt. Like any materialistic item, belts have a set lifespan that dictates their prime functionality. After a couple of years and intense labor and strain, belts wear down and decrease in quality, affecting their performance. Faster wear and uneven surface erosion also arise if the belt’s installation is incorrect or operators fail to run them at the recommended speeds and tensions for their material properties.
Solutions and Prevention
To avoid an unexpected decline in production quality and risks of halted operations, regularly replace your system’s belt. This ensures that your conveyor runs constantly and is in its prime for maximum benefits and optimized productivity. Allowing professionals to install the belt on the track system properly minimizes belt damage and erosion risks. Finally, keeping your system clean also reduces the hazards of debris poking, tugging, or tearing the belts.
Belt Deviation and Misalignment
One of the main functions of a belt is to move items down the assembly line. Misaligned and deviated belts change the belt’s movement, like its speed and mobility, and cause a range of other issues. Anything that can hinder the system’s movement influences the rest of the production process. Belt deviation and misalignment generate other operation issues like product slippage, belt slippage, and safety hazards.
Potential Causes
No matter the type of system, all conveyors require proper tensioning to operate efficiently and optimally. Tensioning belts secure the band in place, allowing it to successfully travel over rollers and across the length of the pulley system. It also ensures the belt provides enough force to carry an item without dropping. Failing to properly tension the belts causes belts to mistrack.
Solutions and Prevention
The best way to mitigate this issue is to re-tension the belt before further damage occurs. Use a tensioning rod to read your belt’s deflection rating more accurately than just eyeing it. An ideal tensioned belt should deflect half an inch from its resting position. Too much tension creates the risk of potential belt snapping and tearing. Meanwhile, too little tension creates an unstable surface for products, leading to various possible safety and operational issues.
Glue and Debris Carryback
Folder gluer machinery and conveyor systems carry a range of materials and use adhesives within their production line. Certain malfunctions occur that lead to debris from the materials and glue residue contaminating the rest of the belting system. Carryback spreads the residue across the machinery and causes a domino effect, ruining other products traveling on the belt. Glue droppings spilled onto the belt create a sticky surface, causing other carried items to stick together, stick to the belt, and fail to fold and shape to the desired end product.
Potential Causes
Various circumstances create risks of carryback. Lack of regular belt cleaning allows a buildup of debris such as dust, glue drippings, and other contaminants. The more residue buildup, the higher the chances of cross-contamination and carryback. Other possible influences that lead to carryback include loose gluers or other machinery parts or a malfunction in the system’s timing. Since conveyor systems work as an assembly line, an error occurring in one production line section also affects the succeeding procedures in the system.
Solutions and Prevention
Ideal folder gluer belts consist of a durable, highly resistant, and easy-to-clean material. The easier the belt is to clean, the less likely carryback is to occur. Highly resistant and durable belts also reduce the chances of debris and glue spillage absorbing into the belt’s material, further affecting its functionality.
Popular belts for folder gluer machinery include urethane and PVC belts. Implementing a regular and frequent cleaning routine ensures your system’s belt stays spotless with minimal risks of carryback or contamination.
Product Damage and Jamming
Although operating folder gluer systems at high speeds offers a range of production benefits, it also increases the risks. Belts moving at fast speeds can cause products to overlap through the feeder, leading to jams and subsequent malfunctions in the system’s operation. Another potential hazard is products flinging off the belt, damaging the products, and wasting supplies. Like with many situations, operating at high speeds makes it more challenging to manage and control the line, increasing accidents.
Potential Causes
Operating the belt at high speeds potentially risks products leaving the system, especially if your items lack a firm grip on the belt’s surface. Product jamming occurs when a buildup of the carried items, such as paper or cardboard, blocks other mechanisms and impairs belt and machinery movements. Improper feeding of the products also increases the risk of overlapping and jams.
Solutions and Prevention
Ensuring you operate your system at the recommended speeds for your goods and belt properties prevents potential risks of product damage. The higher you go over the ideal speed limit, the higher your chances of accidents.
You also want to ensure all system parts are optimally compatible with one another’s functions and capabilities. Designating a certain feeding overseer prevents overlapping products and overloading the system to reduce paper or cardboard jams. Opt for a belt with a good grip to further minimize the prospect of your transported items flinging off the conveyor as an added safety measure.
Knowing some of the common folder gluer belt problems and how to fix them helps you optimize your system to prevent and handle certain issues that could potentially arise in your warehouse. With the best safety measures in place, your conveyor system and warehouse productivity will operate at their prime.
