Efficient production of plastic packaging

The thermoforming process enables the economical production of plastic packaging in large quantities. A leading manufacturer of the machines installs rack and pinion gearboxes from Leantechnik in its automatic compressed air forming machines and die-cutters. The components guarantee reliable operation of the systems even when the specified technical data is fully utilized.

Short forming cycles, high output and low investment costs: thermoforming systems have major advantages over other methods of plastics processing. The central elements of the compressed air forming machines are the pre-stretcher and the clamping frame. These devices pre-stretch the heated plastic, fix it in place and thus define the desired contour of the thermoformed part. A well-known manufacturer of these machines uses lean SL rack and pinion gearboxes from Leantechnik to drive both parts of the system.

lean SL rack and pinion gearboxes were developed for simple synchronous positioning tasks where a guide is already in place and no lateral forces need to be absorbed. lean SL rack and pinion gearboxes are available in different sizes and in two variants, can absorb lifting forces of 800 N to 25,000 N and achieve lifting speeds of up to 0.6 m/s. The gearboxes are not only available in a standard version, but also as lean SL double with two racks for applications with gripping, closing and centering movements. In addition, Leantechnik has developed the particularly compact lean SL 5.m for applications with a very small installation space and the lean SL 5.5 with very high lifting forces.

A Leantechnik product is also used in the thermoforming specialist's die-cutters. A gearbox from the lifgo series is used in the so-called pusher drive to push the formed parts out of the punching tool. lifgo rack and pinion gearboxes are characterized by their high robustness and are ideal for the precise synchronous positioning of heavy loads. Leantechnik manufactures the gearboxes in various series with lifting forces of 2,000 to 25,000 N and lifting speeds of up to 3 m/s. The lifgo rack and pinion gearboxes position with an absolute accuracy of ±0.05 mm and a repeat accuracy of ±0.02 mm.