At the point of the cut, a battle for control of the sheet takes place inside a rotary die cutter. The die cylinder is rotating at one speed, while, all too often, the anvil cylinder is rotating at another. This pulling results in poor quality die cuts, blanks which are too short and cuts with ragged edges.
Several factors can cause blank length variation. Probably the worst, and most common, is unevenly worn anvil blankets. This wear causes a variation in the anvil diameter which further increases the speed differences between the cutting die and anvil. To compensate, operators often use excessive impression settings in an attempt to overcome the poor contact with the lowest points on the anvil blankets. This only makes the problem worse. In order to get a clean cut, the cutting die must penetrate deeply into the anvil’s highest points, thereby causing greater wear on each of the component parts. This additional impression can also cause registration and printing problems that will have an ill effect on the finished product and require slower production speeds.
Dicar’s Simple Solution
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The patented Equalizer compensates for these factors by using a free floating bearing, mounted on a chrome plated cylinder, to “equalize” the anvil’s speed to that of the cutting die. Long-life Dicar boltless blankets are secured to the bearing, providing an ideal cutting surface. The bearing allows the penetrating cutting rule to set the speed of the anvil cylinder, thereby eliminating the speed differences and producing accurate die-cuts.
Reliability
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Since 1989 over 1,000 Dicar Equalizers have been installed on new machines and as upgrades to existing machinery. Equalizers have helped boxmakers address die cutting inefficiencies and deliver far greater dimensional accuracy to their customer than ever possible with conventional die-cutting method.
Universal Versatility
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The Dicar Equalizer system is available for most new and existing rotary die-cutters. Existing Equalizer systems can be easily upgraded to the new, time saving, Equamount system.
Enhanced Productivity – Blanket Rotation That Takes Just Minutes
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- Maximizing production hours is more important today than ever. Without Dicar’s Equalizer, blanket rotation is a tedious, tiresome, time consuming process. It is often ignored because of the machine productivity lost during the rotation. The Equalizer with Equamount directly addresses this by dramatically reducing blanket rotation times. In fact, rotation of covers is now so simple that it can be done by a single operator in less than five minutes. It’s so fast that many plants choose to rotate every day, and some, every shift.
- Rotation also eliminates the need for most anvil trimming or grinding. Many users report that a program of frequent rotation doubles the life of a set of anvil blankets, dramatically increasing cover life while enhancing the quality of the finished die-cut.
