Alcon Tool Company: Sleeves & Slitters

Alcon Post #8

Tool Highlight

Sleeve - inside view

Sleeve - outside view

Sleeves and slitters work together to reduce -or, in industry terminology, "convert"- wide rolls of material into narrower strips. Generally, the material from the original roll is unwinds, travels over a shaft mounted with sleeves, is slit (cut), then rewound onto cores for use by the end customer/consumer. Materials that involve this method of cutting include thin paper, film, and foil.

The slitter (knives) are mounted in holders that accommodate bearings allowing the slitter to walk along the rotating sleeve. Slitters cut with pressure through a radiused edge. While a sharp edge would ship quickly, producing a jagged cut as well as scoring of the sleeve, a radiused edge performs optimally for clean, consistent cutting performance.

Sleeves require a higher hardness than the slitters thereby sacrificing the less-expensive slitter, which can be easily replaced and/or resharpened. Replacing dull knives with properly radiused ones takes only minutes while replacing entire sleeves that need reconditioned can require hours or days in total.

All Alcon sleeves are through-hardened, which permits regrinding. Regrinding extends the life of the sleeve itself which means savings for your company. Eventually, all sleeves need to be reground due to the scoring (or grooving) of the sleeves. Alcon can perform this service as well and return the sleeve surface to its original condition and can match a set of sleeves to the same diameter within .001-inch.

To achieve optimal tool life and cutting profile, and to best-fit the specific cutting application, slitters can be manufactured from a variety of steels and materials. Alcon is prepared and capable of producing the slitters that you need to the exact specifications that you require.