Valco Melton says that its new product improves bond strength while saving up to 70% adhesive usage and reducing downtime.
For years, paper bag manufacturing machinery has been utilizing pneumatic hot melt dispensing equipment for patch handle attachment, until the recent emergence of all-electric technology. Valco Melton’s EcoStitch applicator incorporates an “innovative” gluing technology, applicable to handle patch formation and attachment, bottom paste and bottom patch reinforcement, and bag seam gluing.
The company argues that this new technology brings a host of benefits to bag manufacture. By focusing on the client, all-electric systems seek to improve OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) by reducing adhesive usage, downtime and consumable parts, purportedly giving bag producers a direct competitive advantage over their rivals.
Historically, manufacturers have used compressed air (pneumatic systems) because it was easily available and satisfied the original design criteria established by early hot melt systems.
Nevertheless, Valco Melton argues, these pneumatic systems have had several long-term issues including costly parts replacement, diminishing solenoid performance and the use of dynamic seals which, the company says, are at the heart of system performance inefficiency. They also report that electric gear pumps and electric valves require almost 90% fewer seals and spare parts to run when compared to pneumatic pumps and valves. By eliminating the number of moving parts, they argue, all-electric systems eliminate the chance of failure caused by worn out or imperfect seals.
The product’s new glue dots pattern application, configurable by the customer for every product requirement, reportedly allows from 40 to 70% in adhesive savings. In most frequent cases, Valco Melton says that this guarantees complete payback in as little as 4 months.
Bond strength is also benefited by a dot and gap pattern. In an adhesive bead pattern, only the bead ends provide a high bond. However, EcoStitch dots, while apparently putting down less adhesive, also ostensibly provide more bonding surface area and more independent bonds with focused fiber penetration. Every dot flattens out 360-degrees with compression providing more bonding surface area while maintaining heat penetration.
Carlo Zucchi, Director of Sales Europe, said “Valco Melton’s EcoStitch all-electric applicator improves bond strength while saving up to 70% adhesive usage and reducing downtime. Our new solution has also passed each and every strength test developed by the strictest bag manufacturers - evidence of reliability”
