FOCUS ON SURFACE FINISHING
A smooth process
GEA Food Solutions chose the Timesavers ‘ 32 RB series ’ compact dry wide belt grinder for deburring , edge rounding , finishing and / or laser oxide after careful consideration .
“ We mainly looked for a machine that would allow us to finish as smoothly as possible ,” explained Van Haaften . “ Products come out of the laser cutter , are tapped ( when necessary ) and are finished in the Timesavers machine . The finished products go through the belt onto the return table . The return table is proving to be very valuable because it allows us to ensure
Operations with the Timesavers 32 RB series machine . that the machine is used by many people working around the machine . Further down the assembly line , the machines are assembled into fully fledged food packaging devices .”
A technician from GEA Food Solutions was finetuning a lollipop packaging machine and Allard van Haaften asked if he would like to give a
A metal sheet with directionless finish . demonstration .
“ We are in the test phase and only have a fraction of the capacity ,” he shrugged . Nevertheless , the lollipop packaging machine shoots packed lollipops into a collection tray .
A machine operator at GEA Food Solutions .
The machine can also do it faster .
“ We do between 800 and 1400 lollipops per minute ,” explained Van Haaften . “ This number depends a little on the shape and size of the lollipops .”
Directionless finishing
Van Haaften stressed that directionless finishing is important .
“ A machine that you don ’ t finish ‘ directionless ’ simply does not look nice . If you finish the sheet metal ‘ directionless ’, it doesn ’ t matter how you put the sheets in the Timesaver machine . Moreover , you do not want deep surface scratches because then the plate gets dirty faster and is harder to clean . This is a ‘ no-go ’ if you work with food products ,” he highlighted .
GEA Food Solutions has been operating the Timesavers 32 RB series for a year now .
“ Within a week , everyone was able to operate the machine flawlessly . Together with Timesavers , we examined how we could replace the existing machine with one that could both finish directionless and process very small parts . The promise was then made that we could finish a euro in terms of size . This was proved possible without any problems . We then went to the factory with lasered parts and did tests e . g . how fast is the machine , which grain size should we choose etc .? This way , with Timesavers ’ help , we chose the machine that suited us best ,” added Van Haaften .
Processed parts for GEA Food Solutions .
The return table on the Timesavers 32 RB series .
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