At Glue Machinery Corporation, we understand the world of industrial adhesives can be daunting. Many of our customers ask adhesive-related questions ranging from requests for product overviews to seeking industry best practices. We want to this information with you through our monthly content series, Glue Talk: Answers to Your Questions About All Things Adhesive.
Q: How often do I have to clean a cold glue rollcoater, such as the R or Z Gluers?
A number of factors affect the frequency of cleaning required:
- Type of adhesive
- Coating applied to substrate
- Speed of operation
- Quantity of material being coated
- Type of material being coated
- Temperature and humidity of the environment
In most high production applications the machine can operate for one eight-hour shift before cleaning is required. Where very thin substrates must be coated with a precise coating, cleaning could be required more frequently to as much as every four hours.
To clean your rollcoater:
- Remove the glue tank
- Recover any salvageable glue
- Scrape the glue tank of excess glue
- Clean the tank with water
- Reinsert the glue tank into the unit
- Fill the tank with water
- Operate the machine with water until all residual glue is dissolved
- Wipe the rollers with a clean, dry cloth. Smaller machines are much easier to service, and the typical breakdown and clean-up takes 15-25 minutes depending on the condition of the glue rollers.
Q: Can I quickly glue poster board yard signs with hot melt?
Poster board yard signs can be quickly and precisely glued with the Shot Pot FAST™ FAST benchtop hot melt machine with dual photo sensors.
Simply position the edge of the poster board in the machine’s guide rail and move it under the nozzle for a perfect bead on the edge of the poster board. Repeat this process three times and glue this to the second poster board to make your perfect yard sign.
Some customers use the Hot Coat™ 7 Industrial Hot Melt Roll Coater to quickly apply a thin coating of clear hot melt to the edges of the poster board yard sign to seal the Edges and improve water resistance.
Q: Why does fugitive removable hot melt “string” so much?
Fugitive removable hot melt is cohesive in nature. It tends to want to stick to itself and not release when extruded in molten from a high speed hot melt gun.
A number of factors need to be considered when addressing hot melt glue stringing:
- Condition of Adhesive: Is the adhesive pot life being exceeded or are operating temperatures causing adhesive degradation?
- Condition of Hot Melt Machine: A hot melt machine should have a clean clear tank, hose, filters and correctly sized nozzle.
- Temperature Settings on Hot Melt Machine: The hot melt tank should be set slightly below application temperature and the guns and hose at application temperature.
- Glue Gun and Nozzle: A pneumatic hot melt gun with correctly sized nozzle is preferred over electric guns to eliminate stringing.
- Gun/Nozzle are Too Far from the Substrate: Keep the glue gun close to the material as extruding fugitive removable glue more than ½” can contribute to stringing.
- Output Pressure from Hot Melt System is Too Low: To extrude patterns with accuracy you need to generate a couple hundred pounds. If there is not sufficient pressure, stringing will most certainly ensue.
Q: Why was the Dynamini™ hot melt tank with piston pump discontinued?
The Dynamini™ hot melt tank with piston pump proved its value in industry for many years. The 10 and 20 lb capacity “Melt On Demand” machines operated in thousands of factories worldwide melting and pumping tens of millions of pounds of hot melts. They operated in a range of application to include simple hand gluing, as well as high speed cartoning and case sealing lines operating 24/7.
The Dynamini™ design has been improved upon with the introduction of the new DS Simplicity hot melt machine. Some of the benefits of the design improvement include:
- Non-stick coating in tank
- Better lid system on tank
- Higher melt rate
- Ability to operate with up to six hoses and guns
- Vertical easily removed pump
- Larger purge-able filtration system
- Ability to operate with other hoses and guns
- Air Regulator built into the machine
- Self Diagnostic Temperature controls
The DS Simplicity will operate with the same Dynamini™ hoses and guns.
While the Dynamini™ N5 and 10 piston pump machines are no longer produced, Glue Machinery Corporation continues to offer parts and service for these machines. Don’t forget that the Dynamini™ N5 gear pump machine is still available in 120 V.
Q: Why do your hot melt parts cost more than the others on the internet?
Original Equipment Manufactured, OEM, parts for hot melt machines often cost more than aftermarket parts. Here are some reasons why:
- Quality with regard to fit and function: You can always find a M10 X 1.25 bolt at Home Depot, but is it made from the same material as the original? Does the thread really match? Have you ever gone to install a new replacement part only to find that the holes didn’t match up? This is much less likely to happen when using our OEM parts.
- Warranty & Support: Installation of non-OEM parts can pose a threat to warranty coverage. If your systems fails because you replaced parts with will-fitters’ parts that do not match our manufacturing specifications, it could affect your warranty coverage.
- System Compatibility: with the increasing use of connected sensors to monitor operating conditions, making sure related components are compatible is a primary concern. Some of our software is proprietary, and aftermarket suppliers do not have access to the code that make our systems work.
- Reliable Distribution: Glue Machinery Corporation has been in business since 1968. We have had a long time to refine our supply chains. You may believe you are saving a few dollars by buying and aftermarket part, only to find that your work schedule is disrupted when the part doesn’t show up on time.
- Durability: A part is a part, except when you have no idea what it is made of. Hot melt machine parts are not consumables for the most part. Many after-market parts will not stand the test of time.
Come back to purchasing the correct hot melt machine parts and watch your production increase while costs actually decrease.
Q: Why do I have to buy large quantities of hot melt?
You don’t have to buy large quantities of adhesive, as we stock a number of products for sale at any volume. A hot melt machinery customer called me the other day to ask if we could help him with an alternative hot melt source. We cross-referenced his hot melt and processed his small volume order for a comparable hot melt, offering a medium volume discount as an incentive.
Instead of spending close to $10,000.00 on a minimum order specified by the supplier that would last six plus months,, he bought $1000.00 worth of glue at a competitive price that would last nearly 2 months. Our customer was much happier with the fugitive hot melt we specified, and with the fact that he wasn’t forced to buy thousands of pounds of hot melt to fill his order.
Many adhesive suppliers do not want to carry inventory, so the low-volume end user is forced to purchase more glue than they might need. Glue Machinery offers low volume just-in-time purchases of hot melt to maximize cash flow and inventory efficiencies.
Q: What happens to water based PVA glue that sits in a drum for extended periods of time?
Typically, the solids in the glue begin to settle in the bottom of the drum if not used or mixed after 3 months. This settling process varies with the glue as well as the storage environment . When the consistency of the glue in the drum varies, the application process and bonding characteristics may also change.
Keep in mind that it is very important to use evenly blended glue. A simple way to mix low to medium viscosity glue is with a double diaphragm pump, a dip tube and a short hose. This will allow you to pump glue from the bottom of the drum to the top and mix for re-circulation.