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A Guide to

Rewinding
Part one

Version 1.0
Issue Date: June 2016

CONTENTS
Types of winders

Surface Winders

Centre Winders

Centre-Surface Winders

Surface Winding

Two drum surface rewinding

Centre-Surface Winding

Strengths and weaknesses of centre-surface winding

11

Centre Winding

12

Simplex Winding

15

Duplex winding

16

Lock core Winding

17

Differential Winding

17

Individual arm winding

19

Introduction
All machines are more efficient if operated by personnel who are familiar with their basic
principles and construction. This guide has been written with the object of helping the
operating personnel to understand these basic principles, and thus to achieve maximum
production together with a very high standard of finished rolls.

Types of winders
There are three basic types of winders in the industry today:
Surface winders
Centre-Surface winders
Centre winders

Surface Winders
A surface winder is a winder that is driven by a rotating roll touching the surface of the
rewinding roll.
Surface Winder

Centre Winders
A winder driven only at the shaft or core is called a centre winder.
Centre Winder

Centre-Surface Winders
A centre-surface winder, as the name implies, is driven at the core of the rewinding roll and
by a winding drum touching the surface of the rewinding roll.

Centre-Surface Winder

Surface Winding
The winding drum acting on the material being rewound and the unwind tension provides all
of the winding tension, no force/drive comes from the rewind shaft, and the contact force is
dependent on roll weight and a controlled air pressure.
Note when surface winding with a shafted rewind the winding drum is in contact with the roll
at its largest diameter. The shaft rotates at the speed governed by the surface speed of the
largest diameter, thus allowing the rest of the web to be wound without any tension on it.
Note this results in the thickest material winding to the biggest diameter and then using all of
the tension.
The web path is generally as follows:
Overhead centre
surface winder

Pacer roll

Knives

Unwind roll

Contact
Cylinder

Blown film is normally surface wound as all tension derives from the driven rolls of the
machine, with no additional tension added during winding. This is important with extensible
films, i.e. polyethylene, where excess tension can lead to crushed cores.
On surface winders for material, two driven winding drums are used which offer tension
control in addition to the unwind tension. (see 2 Drum winder)
An advantage of surface winding is that any roll diameter desired can be made as there is
no pull on the web coming from the core, therefore there is no wound in stress (as in centre
winding).

Two drum surface rewinding


Many materials can be rewound by the surface method. The most common machine for
surface winding is the two-drum surface winder. It is suitable for tissue, paper and board
products at widths up to 9.8m and 1.5m in diameter.
The web path is generally as follows:

Two Drum Surface


Rewinder
Rider roll

Rewound roll

Winding drums

Knives

If the coefficient of friction between the layers of material is , then the rewind tension t
can be expressed simply as:
T F (less than or equal to)
Where F is the force between the rewind roll and the winding drum.
Note: t max = T (Where T is the tension in the film before rewinding).
The value of is influenced by dynamic conditions, and the differential speed between drums
(1) and (2) can change the effective value of T.
The hardness of the rewound roll is not only influenced by the tension, but also the amount
of air entrapped between the layers during rewinding. Therefore, the value of F from the
addition of the weight of the rewound roll and the pressure roller will influence the hardness
of the roll. On modern material slitters, the winding drums are driven by separate motors
so that the tension between winding drum (1) and (2) can be controlled in addition to the
unwind tension.

Centre-Surface Winding
The term centre-surface means that the rewind tension is derived by combining surface
rewinding and centre winding.
The winding tension here is generated both from torque applied at the centre of the package
and the force applied by the winding drums to the outside of the package. If the centre
winding is not connected, the slitter will act as a pure surface winder, as would the case with
materials exhibiting high coefficients of friction between the material layers.

Atlas OCSE620
slitting machine

Web path of an
overhead centre
surface machine

Pacer roll

Knives

Centre Drive

Unwind roll
Centre Drive

Contact
Cylinder

The packages can be mounted on shafts or on individual arms. The shaft approach can be
either lock core wound (as all of the cores rotate at the same speed, for the material to wind
all of the rolls must be the same diameter. This demands a very good thickness control on
the material.) or differential wound (as the cores can rotate independently this system can
cope with varying material thicknesses [diameters]).
In either arrangement the wound rolls are loaded against the winding drum using a
controlled force from an actuator (generally an air cylinder).
The centre winding torque helps to overcome rolling friction in bearings and also transmits
some torque into the wound roll through the core. Centre torque is less than the force
derived from contact between driven winding drum and material. The centre torque is not
as critical as surface tension on a centre surface machine, leading to greater flexibility of the
rewind arms, handling a wide range of slit widths and diameters with small arms compared
with a centre winder.
However, centre surface machines are limited to relatively small rewind widths and diameters
due to geometry of the slitter where the rewind package lays upon the winding drum, so the
increasing weight of rewind roll tends to increase contact force, removing more air from the
rewind package leading to harder rolls.
Hence precise control of contact force proves more difficult than a pure centre winder.
If high speeds are attempted, excessive air can suddenly be drawn into the rewind roll,
leading to out-of-round rolls which bounce on the winding drum.
The interaction of centre surface torque and machine geometry means that absolute
tensions cannot be guaranteed, unlike a centre winder where the torque supplied by the
rewind arm motors provides accurate tension control.
Consequently computer control of centre surface machines can only attempt to improve
consistency of winding rather than achieve precise control attainable on a centre winder.
winding).

Centre surface
rewind tension

Motor
F

Weight
P
The example above of a centre surface winder can be used to understand how the machine
operates. Each slit roll is held in a pair of pivoted rewind arms and held in controlled contact
with a winding drum using the air cylinder.
The tension in the material as it approaches the winding drum is generated from three
sources:

The unwind tension.

The speed differential between the pull roll and the winding drum. Each of the
two winding drums is driven by a variable-pitch pulley and V-belts and it is usual
to set the winding drums with a speed of about 0.1% faster than the pull roll,
therefore the unwind tension is increased by a small amount.

The rewind motor torque applied via the package radius to the material.

The tension in the material as it approaches the winding drums is practically the same as
the unwind tension plus tension generated by the overspeed as the rewind motor generates
relatively low tension:
Tmax > 1 F
T is the tension in the material as a result of the unwind tension and the overspeed of the
winding drum.
F is the force between the rewound roll and the winding drum as a result of the weight of the
rewound roll W and the force from the air cylinder P.
1 is the coefficient of friction between the material and the winding drum.

The tension which can be surface rewound is dependent on the coefficient of friction 2
between the layers of material. 2 will usually be lower than 1 and in a dynamic state at high
speed when air is carried by the material, 2 then will vary with running speed.
That is why increasing speed without any compensation can have a very large effect on
the hardness of the rewound roll since not only is more air carried in but the surface rewind
tension may drop to a lower value.
If the surface rewound tension is t1, then the following can be written: t1 = 2 F
If F is large enough and the running speed is not high, then the rewound tension is
constant.
If the contact force is not increased with running speed, then the surface rewound tension
can be:
t1

max

T (less than or equal to)

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Strengths and weaknesses of centre-surface winding


Strengths
Since the power of the rewind motors is not very important, it is possible to design rewind
arms which can handle a wide range of slit widths and diameters. With a pure centre winder,
the range of widths and diameters is controlled by the power of the rewind motor.
The versatility of the arms makes the winding systems a very cost effective capital purchase.
Centre-surface machines cost much less than centre-winders.
Without individual layon rolls the machine is quicker to setup.

Weaknesses
It is not possible to set and be certain of the final rewind tension and therefore the operation
of the machine is subject to more operator skill than machine controls. A computer cannot
necessarily do a better job with a centre-surface rewinder than a good operator. With a
centre winder absolute tensions are guaranteed. Therefore, 50 micron polyethylene can
always be run on a centre-surface rewinder, but 4 micron technical films on a centre winder.
The air carried with the film is dependent on the running speed. The contact force must be
at a value which will allow some air to be entrapped, but not too much. The geometry of
the rewind arms and the weight of the rewound roll make precise control of the contact
force difficult. Therefore, if very high speeds are attempted, it is very easy for too much
air suddenly to be carried into the rewound roll with catastrophic effects; the roll becomes
soft, the value of 2 drops, the roll becomes even softer, the rewound roll goes out of round,
bounces on the drum etc.
If rigid materials are attempted on a centre-surface rewinder, then although t is generated
at the point of rewinding, previous layers can start to clock-spring and a slack finished roll
results. Rigid materials should therefore be centre wound.
Since the contact force is difficult to control, it is easier to produce hard rolls than soft.

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Centre Winding
On centre winders, unwind tension only acts on the web until the last pull roll, after which the
only tension theoretically acting on the web is tension generated from the rewind arm drive
motors. The torque applied to each package generates the tension in each strip of material.

T
T = Unwind
Tension

Layon
roll

Winding
torque

Rewind
Package

Driven rolls

Tension =
Rewind
tension
Centre winder tension

By varying the winding torque an accurate tension profile can be followed which is usually a
taper profile, i.e. reduction in tension as diameter builds up.
With centre winding the package weight has no effect on contact force as the package
weight is taken by the arm or shaft carrying it.
Layon rolls acting on the outside of the rewind roll apply the contact force. The machine
is such that the increasing diameter of the package is detected and causes the layon roll
package geometry to be held constant. Either the layons move away from the package or
the package away from the layon roll. Generally movement of the layon roll causes the
rewinds to be moved so as to keep the layon position constant.

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Layon roll operation

Layon
roll

Rewind
package
Contact
force

Pivot

Pneumatic
cylinder

A potentiometer mounted on the beam ensures the slitter knows the position of the rewind
beam throughout the winding operation. Calculation gives the package diameter which is
important for repeatable profile generation.
In centre winding the winding force (or rewind tension) is derived from the rewind arm
motors and is transmitted to the winding web through the core and layers of material that
have already been rewound.
Tension is the pull in the web as it is running through the machine, while torque is the turning
force generated by the motor. These two variables are directly related.
TENSION x RADIUS = TORQUE
Tension vs. Torque
Tension
Torque
Radius

RADIUS = ROLL DIAMETER


2

13

As a roll builds up and the radius increases, the torque must be increased if the tension is to
be held constant or tension must decrease if the torque remains constant.
Increasing tension can help pull out bags in a floppy web or make a firmer roll, but if
tension is too high, excessive residual stress (or over stretching) is built into the roll causing
problems such as crushed cores.
There is also a limit to the torque that can be transmitted through the layers of material
before slip occurs.

14

Simplex winding
In simplex winding the material is slit and all of the slits are wound on to one shaft. This
shaft can either operate in lock or differential mode. This design is excellent for the operator
as there is only one shaft to maintain and load/unload. The operator would removed the
finished packages from the shaft, reload the shaft with cores and then attach the slits to the
cores. The web path of the machine is simple and there are no problems with spacing the
cores as the full web goes onto the one shaft.
As the webs run together after slitting there can be edge damage due to the strips rubbing
together.

Simplex Centre Winder

Slitting
Section

Rewind
Torque
Core

Upper Rewind

Unwind

is such that the increasing diameter of the package is detected and causes the layon roll
package geometry to be held constant. Either the layons move away from the package or
the package away from the layon roll. Generally movement of the layon roll causes the
rewinds to be moved so as to keep the layon position constant.
This style of machine can easily be automated into a turret machine where the machine can
run while the operator unloads the previous set of packages and reloads the shaft ready for
the next run.

15

Duplex winding
In duplex winding the slit strips are wound on two parallel shafts (the upper and lower
rewinds). Alternating strips are either wound on the top or bottom shafts. This ensures that
the edges of the material are not damaged due to the edges rubbing together.
Duplex Centre Winder
Layon Roll

Slitting
Section

Core

Rewind
Torque

Upper Rewind

Pull Roll
Core
Unwind

Titan SR800 Duplex


Winder

16

Lower Rewind

Lock core Winding


If the material thickness profile is very good or the material is tolerant to tension (e.g. nonwoven) then it is possible to run simplex and duplex winders on a lock core shaft.
In this design the cores are locked solidly to the shaft and the torque transmitted into the
shaft by the motor is shared between the packages. All of the packages will rotate at the
same speed and so the largest diameter package will rotate at the speed of the material
running through the machine, all of the other packages will run with slightly slower surface
speed and so the biggest diameter package will take most (all) of the tension.
For this to operate correctly the diameters must be very close to each other.

Differential Winding
If the material is not perfect or the winding quality is not good enough when lock core
winding, a shafted machine can be run with a differential shaft where the shaft is rotated
faster than the packages can rotate. The package wants to rotate at a speed as follows

rotationalspeed =

linespeed
* diameter

The shaft is driven faster than this the friction of the drive gives the torque to the core. This
allows for packages with slightly different diameters still having a controlled torque for
winding.
There are three different designs of torque transfer that either uses the core or a mechanical
clutch as the friction. These two types are typically shown by the following three principles.
A slat shaft which is alternatively stacked with cores and spacers. Air pressure is applied to
the shaft, which is proportional to the friction that the expanded slats exert upon the cores,
and hence the torque transmitted into the package. At the end of winding the packages are
pushed off of the end of the shaft.

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Each package is locked on a mechanically expanding Quicklock. The shaft between the
Quicklocks is stacked with spacers and the shaft is rotated at an overspeed. The winding
tension then comes from friction between the Quicklocks and is controlled by loading the
shaft axially. The packages must be manually unlocked before the packages can be removed.

Differential Ball Lock Shaft


Radially loaded shafts loaded
with Ball Lock. The winding
cores are locked onto the
Ball Lock units. A pneumatic
system exerts a radial out from
the mandrel, loading in inside
of the Ball Locks with a force
proportional to air pressure
applied. This frictional load is
transmitted into the package
by the Ball Lock unit. To
unload the shaft the shaft
must be rotated backwards to
keep the locks collapsed.

The advantage of Ball Locks is that cores can simply be loaded and locked over the spacers,
unlike a slat shaft where cores and spacers must be removed.
The rewind shafts are driven faster than the slit webs are fed onto the cores, creating
slip between cores and shaft. This ensures rewind tension is maintained for each slit web,
irrespective of material thickness differences on adjacent cores.
The differential shaft air pressure sets the torque transfer to the cores. If the torque is
left constant during winding, the tension will fall away as the diameter of the rewind roll
increases

18

Individual arm winding


Each package is wound on a separate station. The core on which the roll is wound is held
between a pair of rewind arms, which has its own individual layon roll to remove the air

CW500 Tobacco Centre Winder

19

AND THERES MORE!......


We hope you found this article interesting and informative. If you have any specific questions
please do not hesitate to contact us at: info@atlasconverting.com
Part II of this series of articles on slitting and rewinding will be due soon, so stay tuned!....

20

A Guide to
Rewinding
Part two

Version 1.0
Issue Date: July 2016

CONTENTS
Material Conditions

Gauge variation

Gauge bands

Slack zones

Parent roll quality

Roll hardness

Contact force

Web Tension

Unwind tension

How does the unwind tension affect the rewind rolls?

How is unwind tension controlled ?

7-8

Machine rollers

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Material conditions
All materials are subject to some or all of the following manufacturing faults:

Gauge variation
Gauge variation is a gradual change in thickness across the web width from edge to edge
(TD gauge = Transverse direction) or along the length of the material (MD gauge = Machine
direction).

Gauge bands
Gauge bands are abrupt changes in thickness over a small width. Bands run parallel to the
main axis of the web and can exist for the length of the web, or only for short lengths.

Slack zones
Slack zones are caused by the uneven production of the original material. In this condition
the gauge can be even, but if the web were laid out on a flat surface and cut out into strips
parallel to the main axis, the slack zone strips would be longer than the normal or tight zone
strips.
Effects of web curvature

Centre Winders

This problem is very common on BOPP


1

and is caused by problems in the oven.

Often the mill roll will look good but


the slit rolls will be misaligned. Also

this material problem causes many

problems on shafted winders.

The bag in the


material results in
different strip
lengths and curved
strips.

Parent roll quality


The material supplied to a machine is often supplied with a quality certificate that shows
both the gauge variation and also the bands. Often when winding the gauge bands cause
more problems than the basic gauge variation and you should always look for quick changes
in material thickness.

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Roll hardness
The hardness of a rewound roll of material is governed by the amount of air held between
the layers of material. The amount of air that can be held in a roll depends on the surface
roughness of the material, the permeability of the material and also the residual tension in
the material. Quite naturally air will stay between the layers of material but if the material is
rough then air can stay between the bumps. Both during and after winding air can leech
out of the roll depending on the material permeability and the winding conditions. Any
residual tension will force air out of the roll and the roll will get harder.
During winding the material will carry a surface layer of air with it. When webs are slit and
rewound the layer of air will be carried into the rewind roll. The winding conditions and
machine design should be such that this layer of air can be controlled so that the ideal
qualities of the rewind package can be achieved. If excess air is wound into a roll it results in
the air acting as a lubricant and the layers of material will not wind up on top of each other.
This is unsatisfactory and makes handling the rolls difficult.
Telescoped package

Air Layer

As line speed is increased,


more air is carried with the
material and more air can be

Section A-A

trapped in the rewinding roll,

quality generally deteriorates


with speed unless the process
conditions are adjusted to

compensate.

A good quality roll is well formed with a roll hardness that is both not too hard (too little air
causes material damage) and not too soft (the roll cannot be transported). Often small rolls
of material are shipped vertically i.e. with the core vertical. These rolls are handled with a
mechanical manipulator that lifts the roll by the core. If the roll is too soft the material will fall
off the core completely, which is clearly not acceptable.

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Contact force
Layon rolls are fitted to machines to control the amount of air that is allowed to enter the
rewinding rolls. The layon rolls run in contact with the rewind rolls and apply a force (contact
pressure) to squeeze the air out prior to it entering the roll.
The web path is generally as follows:
Squeezing out the
surface air

Air forced out

By changing the
contact force during
the wind the amount
of air included in the
roll can be controlled.
The contact force is

Air forced out

adjusted depending on:The rewind roll diameter.

This adjustment is necessary since the contact is between the layon roll and the
.

material grows as the diameter of the rewind increases. As the area grows, the
contact force is spread over this growing area and hence its efficiency at removing air
decreases. To compensate, the contact force is increased dramatically with increased
web speed.
The machine speed.
The layer of air on the surface of the material grows in thickness as the machine speed
increases and also the time available to push the air out decreases. The contact force
is increased with machine speed

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Web Tension
The torque from the individual motors on the rewind arms generates the individual centre
wind tensions. Sometimes more than one driven arm is used to rewind a reel. In this
condition the rewind torque is equal to the sum of the individual motor torques.
Atlas slitter rewinders are provided with tension control systems that allow the tension
level wound into a package to be controlled dependent on the machine speed and rewind
diameter.
If the torque is left constant during winding, the tension will fall away as the diameter of the
package increases. With most materials the tension would be too low to satisfactorily wind
the outer layers.
Experience has shown that winding with constant tension rarely provides the ideal winding
conditions. Usually the rewind tension needs to be decreased as the diameter of the roll
builds up, but not by as much as is achieved with constant torque. In practice the tension
should decrease between 5% and 30% with diameter as shown by the grey area on the graph
below.
Tension vs.
diameter profiles

1.2

Constant Tension
Constant Torque
5% Taper
30% Taper

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Diameter

Unwind tension
The unwind tension is the pull on the web material due to the unwind brake/motor.

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How does the unwind tension affect the rewind rolls?


On centre-surface machines, the unwind tension acts upon the web until it comes onto the
winding drum at which point this tension is wound into the package. In this instance, the
unwind tension can have considerable affect on the characteristics of the finished packages.
If the unwind tension has stretched the material, the residual strain caused, is rewound into
the finished packages. This can be sufficient to collapse cardboard rewind cores.
On centre winding machines, the unwind tension acts upon the web until it passes over the
last pull roll. After this point, tension is derived solely from the rewind motors, so in theory
the unwind tension does not affect the characteristics of the finished packages. In practice
however, if the unwind tension has stretched the material it may not have time to return to it
normal state before it is rewound into the finished packages and so it can have some effect
on the rewind rolls. Generally on a centre winder the unwind tension is set as low as possible
so that the material transports well through the machine.

How is unwind tension controlled ?


The material in the machine after leaving the unwind passes over a dancer roller. This roller
is pivoted and is allowed to move between stops. The roller is loaded with a force equivalent
to the required unwind tension, provided the roller does not reach either of the stops then
tension in the material will be the same as the loading force (i.e. the unwind tension) see the
explanation below. If the roll is pulled to the tight stop then the tension in the web is very
high and at the other stop the web tension is zero.
The tension in the material can be generated using either a brake or a motor. When the
machine is run the unwind roll must be rotated with a speed so that the surface speed of the
roll matches the machine speed. The unwind must be controlled so that the dancer roll does
not touch the stops during acceleration, running and deceleration. During acceleration the
web tension acts in a direction to help accelerate the roll and provided the desired tension is
high enough the unwind can be controlled using a brake only. If the required tension is lower
than the tension needed to accelerate the roll, then a motor must be used to help accelerate
the roll. We sometimes use a motor when the tension is higher as if the braking force is
generated with a motor then the energy can be used to help run the machine (rather than
being dissipated as heat in a brake). This makes the machine more economical to run.

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Dancer roll controlled


unwind tension

To the
machine

Web tension
=T

From the
unwind

Force = F
Pivoted dancer
roller

In this diagram the web tension T is related to the force generated by the air cylinder F by the
looking at balancing the forces on the pivot of the dancer roller.

T (Y r) + T (Y + r) = FX

Where r is the radius of the dancer roller. This can be simplified by multiplying out

TY Tr + TY + Tr = FX

2TY = FX

So the web tension is


T=

FX
2Y

Generally the unwind tension is left at a fixed level for any given material and is not varied
during the machine operation.
Note: It is important to understand that unwind tension remains constant even when the
dancer roll is moving up and down.

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Machine rollers
The rolls in the machine fulfill two purposes.

To guide the material from the unwind to the rewind

To smooth the material gently so that it is flat when it reaches the slitting

blades.

On many machines, especially narrow machines, the rollers that direct the material through
the machine are not driven. In this case the rollers are designed to be light and have low
inertia so that the web in the machine can change the speed of the rollers easily as the
machine changes speed.
On wide and fast machines or where the material is thin, the energy required to change the
roll speeds is too great and the rolls need to be driven. When the rolls are driven it is very
important that they are driven at the correct speed. If the speed is incorrect you will see:Material damage.:- Scratching due to the rolls going faster than the material Slack material.
Rolls going slower and not smoothing out the material
The rolls can be driven using either direct drive or linked together using a belt for a common
drive. Generally for correct operation there should be a small progressive increase of roll
speed as you move from the unwind to the rewinds on a machine. This small speed change
(generally < 0.1% per roll) can be achieved by either :Individual roll drive:-Timing belt drive. This gives a constant rotational speed to each roll
and so the rolls are made progressively bigger.
Timing belt drive:- To keep the rolls the same a gearbox (harmonic) can be used to generate
the speed differences. This allows the speed differences to be adjusted during machine
operation.
Flat belt drive:- This allows the rolls to be the same size and the pulleys are progressively
made smaller as you move to the front of the machine.
Note: The surface speed differences here are very small and are difficult to measure.
They are impossible to measure reliably using a hand held speed detector and so special
equipment has been developed to check the roll speeds.
e.g. If the machine runs at 1000m/min and the speed difference is 0.1% then the difference
in speed from one roll to the next is only 1m/min. Typically a hand held device will change by
up to 5m/min when your hand moves.

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AND THERES MORE!......


We hope you found this article interesting and informative. If you have any specific questions
please do not hesitate to contact us at: info@atlasconverting.com
Part iii of this series of articles on slitting and rewinding will be due soon, so stay tuned!....

Atlas Converting Equipment Ltd.


Wolseley Road, Kempston, Bedford MK42 7XT, UK
Tel: +44 1234 852553 Fax: +44 1234 851151
sales.titan@atlasconverting.com
service@atlasconverting.com

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