Sleevit SleeveMaster HB
SleeveMaster HB Horizontal Sleeving Machines have been designed especially for applying heat shrinkable sleeves to products which, under normal circumstances, would prove impossible to sleeve by conventional vertical apply machines due to their instability when standing upright. Products sleeved in this way include lipsticks, mascara and other cosmetics down to very slender eye pencils, phials and skin treatment products, batteries and confectionary.
Products are loaded into a precision walking beam, via either a chute or integrated handling system. In some cases this equipment may be hand loaded in a stand alone installation. As the product progresses, the sleeve is cut accurately in register with any artwork and driven onto the protruding product via a patented, change part, former.
A variable input printer, which is capable of printing bar codes or product information directly onto the sleeve, is available as an integrated option.
After application the sleeve is repositioned to the required place on the product, with overlap both ends if needed, and then fixed in this position by a short blast of controlled hot air.
The completely sleeved product is then passed to a continuously running, heat resistant conveyor, with a hot air tunnel mounted above, where it is rotated whilst being shrunk. This preserves artwork and sleeve position and means the product will spend the absolute minimum of time in the tunnel. Tests have shown that this does not appreciably heat the product including the soft waxes used in lipsticks for example. Product discharge is designed to suit the production environment and an on-board PLC manages all the necessary functions.