Our retracting peel edge technology was initially developed to provide a highly reliable and highly accurate process for removing die-cut adhesive components from a continuous web (liner) and placing them accurately onto an assembly or other substrate.  Customers tended to be from high-tech industries with applications that no other technology could possibly handle.  That changed with the introduction of our PL series of Applicators.  As we continuously improved our processes, invested in better equipment and methods for manufacturing and assembly, and improved and simplified our designs we arrived at a position where we could provide our technology at a level of affordability nearly identical to standard ‘labelers’.  Labelers are really only appropriate for rectangular labels of decent size and while they’ll state that they can place items with +/- 0.75mm repeatability it is questionable what type of process capability will be the result.  Labelers provide a process of feeding a component over a peeling edge and using a combination of air puffs and vacuum to transfer the label onto a vacuum head.  We call their process ‘Flutter, Float, Levitate, and Hope’ due to the large number of variables in the setup and the variability in the actual placement results.  Our PL series of Applicators has no problem with any shape of component including Hang Tabs, which come in very odd shapes.  Some Hang Tabs are shaped like hooks; others have features and thru-holes that can be folded to provide the ‘hanger’ features.  Our PL series handles all of these equally well as a result of our patented retracting blade peel technology which we refer to as ‘Capture, Peel, Place’.  In our systems the component is always controlled either by its attachment to the web or by being positively captured by our vacuum head.  We never leave anything to chance.  In one application a customer required a Hang Tab to wrap around one side of a plastic housing that had a curved surface.  That system was setup for semi-automatic operation and worked wonderfully.  Another customer needed to apply Hang Tabs to a flat pad of paper in a semi-auto fashion, again everything worked with great results.  A more sophisticated requirement was brought by a customer with a highly automated bakery and packaging operation.  They needed the Hang Tabs applied, two per cycle, on baked goods in a plastic wrapper.  We provided two PL100i units on stands that positioned them over the bakery conveyor and through our configured I/O cable they were able to program their conveyor system to trigger the hang tab application on each cycle.  This system was replicated on another line as well.  These are just some of the typical requirements for Hang Tab application.  If you have requirements of this kind please contact Nautilus Systems, Inc. for further assistance.  Remember, it is always better to ‘Capture, Peel, Place’ than it is to ‘Flutter, Float, Levitate, and Hope’!

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