Advanced Slitting System for Multi-Blanking and Slitting Lines

Red Bud Industries (Red Bud, IL) offers their new Fully Automated CNC Programmable Slitting Head. This highly advanced Slitting System can be offered for both Multi-Blanking and Slitting Lines. The Head is fully automated to completely set itself up without any operator intervention in less than two minutes. The operator simply enters the part or strip information and the material specifications into the line’s computer control system. The computer system then calculates where the cuts will occur and downloads this, along with other pertinent information, to the Slitting Head.

The Slitting Head moves the knives to be used from the storage holding area located on the sides of the Slitting Head. The Positioning System will position both the top and bottom Slitter knives on the arbors. The blade gap and depth penetration are automatically set based on the thickness and tensile of the material being processed. The new Slitting Head can make up to ten cuts of material at .250 in. The minimum thickness that can be processed is .030 in and the minimum slit width is 5 in.

When not being used, the knives are stored in an off-line knife storage area. After a new job is entered, the Slitter automatically positions both the top and bottom knives on the arbors for the width of the parts or strips to be produced. The horizontal blade gap and vertical knife penetration are automatically set based on the thickness and tensile of the material being processed. The stripper fingers used with each knife set, as well as our stress/burr reduction Pinch Rolls are automatically set based on the material thickness.

In addition, a series of support arms used to support the material also automatically position themselves based on the job being processed. Once all the knives are positioned, the knives lock themselves into place. The knives are also backed up and transfer the separating load to a bridge frame to minimize arbor deflection and assure a high quality slit edge.

The fully Automated CNC Programmable Slitting Head, a highly advanced Slitter that support up to ten cuts at .250 in (6.3 mm). With this system, the operator simply enters the part or strip width and the material specifications into the line’s computer and the Slitter will do the rest.

The Scrap Choppers used with this Slitting Head also automatically position themselves for the width of the coil being processed. For knife removal, the arbors pull partially out of the Slitting Head on the drive side. This allows the knives to be unbolted and removed from their hub assembly on the operator side of the Slitting Head.

This total package achieves true and complete “hands free” set up of the Slitting Head and Scrap Handling System. Additionally, this high level of automation can be taken a step further. If required, complete jobs can be downloaded directly from the customer’s in-house computer system directly to the line for the Slitting Head. The addition of the new Slitting System now gives customers more options. We can offer the standard semiautomatic CNC Programmable Slitting Head we have used in the past, or now the fully Automatic CNC Slitting Head. www.redbudindustries.com