Long and strong

Converting machinery maker finds an air shaft to fit its new product.

By Contributing Editor Tim Avery -- Converting Magazine, 7/1/2008

Where can an OEM of custom converting machinery go for lightweight air shafts that meet the challenges of handling extra-long, extra-heavy rolls? That’s exactly the situation that led Premier Paper Converting Machinery to tap the custom carbon-fiber winding capabilities of Nim-Cor, Inc., a producer of both conventional and carbon-fiber air shafts.

Started in 2004 and headquartered in New Berlin, WI, Premier Paper makes machines that produce fiber and corrugated partitions—such as the dividers inside cases of glass containers. The company’s latest venture is a custom machine for producing honeycomb panels used as protective packaging inside cartons of heavier products like appliances. “It’s completely new for us,” says Premier Paper vp Bob Lesch.

Feeding this machine are four rolls, up to 98 in. wide and weighing up to 5,300 lbs each. The core shafts for these rolls had to be precisely 100-mm in diameter and lightweight enough for the customer to safely handle. “The real issue was that there was so much weight on the shaft for its length,” says Nim-Cor national sales manager Don Chapin.

Premier Paper began working on the honeycomb machine two years ago and spent a couple months inquiring about the air shaft. “Not a lot of people would make something like that based on their ability to meet our specs,” says Lesch. “We talked to other companies, and they kind of shied away from us, but Nim-Cor was willing to work with us.” Premier Paper gave Nim-Cor its order in October 2006 and received the shafts a month later.

Nim-Cor’s solution was a core shaft as custom as the machinery itself. Company engineers first calculated load and deflection specifications. Then, using in-house, carbon-fiber winding capabilities, Nim-Cor employed a special winding pattern with a high-strength fiber modulus and resin to obtain the required tube strength, rigidity and weight. Hardened steel journals would serve as bearing surfaces while also custom-machined to the OEM’s brake system.

“Carbon fiber is a fast-growing segment of what we do not only for air shafts but also in the flexographic industry,” notes Chapin. He says the material is comparable to steel in strength with less than half the weight.

Nim-Cor’s final product was a carbon-fiber core shaft that could properly support Premier Paper’s huge rolls. The shaft also weighed less than 140 lbs—light enough for two people to safely handle. “The honeycomb machine has been in production for more than a year now,” says Lesch. “The shaft did what we expected it do.”

—Tim Avery

MORE INFO:

MANUFACTURER:

PREMIER PAPER, 262/754-4767, fax: 262/754-4772, www.ppcm.net

SUPPLIER:

NIM-COR, 603/889-2153, fax: 603/883-6980, www.nimcor.com