What is an Air Shaft?
Air Shafts, also commonly known as Air Bars or Air Mandrels, are used in the manufacturing processes for fitting into a core onto which materials such as paper, card and plastic film are wound. An Air Shaft is designed so that, on fitting into a core, it can be readily expanded, thereby achieving a quick and firm attachment. It may also be easily deflated to facilitate easy withdrawal of the shaft after winding of product is complete. Their efficient design makes them ideal for mounting onto bearing housings to enable the winding or unwinding of rolls of stock material with the minimum of equipment down time. The advantage of using an Air Shaft is its ability to grip the core, without damage, whilst providing a positive interface to control the web via motors and brakes. Air Shafts are available as either Lug Type or Key Type
Air Shaft / Air Bar Applications
Application for Air Shafts & Air Bars generally fall into the following uses:-
Continuous Core |
Cantilever Air Shaft/ Air Bar |
Multi-Slit Air Shaft/ Air Bar |
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For standard unwinding & rewinding applications. Lugs are spread apart, symmetrically along the length of the Air Shaft body |
Ideal for Narrow slitting or single cores. Makes handling of reels easier on changeover. |
Overlapping/meeting lugs are used to supply continuous gripping for multi-slitting applications |
Duplex Slitting |
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A pair of shafts employed in tandem winding reel alternatively. Load on shafts are reduced by 50%, eliminating interleaving |
Key type |Lug type air shaft
The Key type air shaft is suitable for a full range of converting and web production operations, with a fixed leaf design for greatest core and web concentricity. It is ideal for core or coreless winding, and features a 360¡ã radial expanding grip. Its rugged construction and design is available for any diameter or length, in steel, aluminum or lightweight carbon, with special designs available for heavy duty and extra lightweight applications. Shaft weights for your specific application are available upon request.
Construction of a key type air shaft
The air shaft is formed by the shaft head, shaft body, key, airbag, air injection port.
Board type | Leaf type air shafts
Board type air shaft introducing foreign advanced production equipment and fabrication technology, using imported airbag , shaft head for the high quality steel products with Blackening process, Attribute value using excellent aluminum and hard oxide, use convenient and long operating rudiments life . When using ,match with our company’s professional configuration of the aerate gun filling gas for the nozzle jet ,to make the shaft of off-axle appearance uniform expansion ,thereby lock nitrogen-treated barrel , when unloading ,press on deflated mouth to deflated ,then nitrogen-treated barrel can be unloaded.
Construction of a board type air shaft
The air shaft is formed by the shaft head, shaft body, key, airbag, air injection port.
The difference between key type inflatable shaft and board type inflatable shaft
Under normal circumstances, the key strip inflatable shaft is mainly used for unwinding materials, and the slat inflatable shaft is mainly used for winding materials. The requirement for unwinding is usually not high, as long as it can hold the tube core tightly; while for rewinding, it is different. During the rewinding process, as the diameter of the rewinding material increases, the shaft will bear more and more force. The larger, that is, the larger the winding diameter, the greater the bearing strength. At this time, if a keyed inflatable shaft is used, then the force acting on the tube core is completed by the keys on the shaft body. If the force is over Larger, it will cause the die to deform, because the key bumps form individual contact points; while the plate-type inflatable shaft is different, and the contact area with the die is large, forming a large circle that contacts the die. The contact surface and strength issues cause the die to deform.
If you require any assistance with your application our team of experienced Sales Engineers will provide a comprehensive on-site service, to survey the requirements and recommend a suitable solution.