What is a heat shrink machine?

Heat shrink machines are more common than you may think and can be massively underappreciated when you consider what they do. They provide both sealing and heat shrinking in a single motion and so quickly!  Heat shrink machines dispense a film over a product, which is heated, and this forms a tighter wrap around the product, creating a secure covering. These are a much faster alternative to other desk top systems.

What is important for heat shrink machines?

It is essential that heat shrink machines are clean, smooth running and efficient, and it is for those reasons that heat shrink machine manufacturers are using igus® products. Being lubrication-free and maintenance-free ensures that there is no contamination from grease, oil or any lubricant within the machine getting onto the shrink wrap.

Low coefficient of friction is also vital to ensure the smooth running of the product across the machine. If there is any friction then it will reduce the productivity of the machine, cause drag and have a negative effect on the precision of the wrapping.

What igus® products are found on a heat shrink machine?

To be honest, many igus® products can be found on these machines thanks to the lack of lubrication required, however, there are some key products that are firm favourites:

• xiros® rollers
• igubal® self-aligning bearings
• iglidur® plain bearings
• drylin® rails and linear guides

A recent application that we were involved with on a heat shrink machine was supplying xiros® rollers. The main requirements for these were lightweight and quiet. The necessity for lightweight was crucial as we needed to avoid damaging or breaking the thin foil used on the heat-shrinkable bags. In this situation, after considering all options and working together with the customer, carbon fibre versions were used, and this gave an additional feature with electrostatic discharge.

Another advantage of using the xiros® rollers in this application is that the customer was able to fully configure the rollers online in their own time. They had full control over the parameters and were able to play with loads and external influences to ensure they had the best solution for their application.

How do igus® products help heat shrink machines?

As well as the actual wrapping element, the heat shrink machine needs to be able to position the products in the optimised position for the wrapping process. In order to achieve this, the machine needs to be accurate, precise and contamination-free.

 This can be achieved using igus® products. Many machines are using our drylin® linear systems for product placement, igubal® pillow blocks to allow for misalignment and tribo-tape for a smooth low c coefficient of friction surface.

There is also the element of heat that needs to be accounted for when deciding on parts to use in the machine. With igus® parts we can accommodate the heat source and ensure that the heat is not detrimental to the parts within the machine. We have a large range of high temperature products that can be specified if required into your application.

The xiros® rollers are ideal for these applications as they offer low inertia which means there is less time to get up to speed. Many xiros® customers are able to add new webs of material without stopping the machine by ‘stacking’ the sleeve material in a roller system keeping downtime to a minimum. Preventing downtime is crucial for all companies, especially in today’s market.

To read more about a successful collaboration in a similar application between igus® and a packaging company who used igus® products click here and if you have an application that could benefit from our igus® products please get in contact.