Slitting is a metal manufacturing process where a coil of material, such as aluminum or steel, is slit into the lengths and widths specified by the end application. As the material runs through the machine, the steel rolls are moved through extremely sharp circular blades, making the cuts. To make the slice, substantial compressive forces must be applied – and when the forces exceed the tensile strength of the material, it slices. The product is long strips of material cut to the buyer’s specifications.
A steel slitting machine is comprised of three major parts – the uncoiler, the slitter, and the recoiler. To ensure that the quality of the process is optimized, each element must be precisely aligned during setup.
The slitting process characteristics include:
- Being restricted to cutting relatively thin materials (0.001 to 0.125 in.),
- Leaving left-over burrs on slit edges of the narrower coals,
- Its ability to be used on both ferrous and nonferrous metals,
- Its categorization as a high production designed to control metal coil width.
California Steel Services Slitting Service
California Steel Services’ breadth of slitting capabilities is of tremendous value to our customers, who know that we have the right equipment to process their orders on time and to the right specifications. Our customers appreciate the high level of precision and quality we offer in our slitting process, as it eliminates the excess material waste that can be produced by their manufacturing processes creating real value.
California Steel Services processes hot rolled steel for a wide variety of gauges and lengths. We are a leading supplier in the industry with high-speed slitting, automatic coil feeds, and hands-free coiling. Used for cutting narrow coil strips from main coils, our machinery comes in many widths and thicknesses and processes at speeds up to 300m/min. We build our slitting lines to maintain high precision while allowing for changes to be made on the fly. High capacity coilers and total control over the machinery with state-of-the-art technology to oversee quality control and automation, we offer our lines on time and budget!
Our Steel Slitting Process
The process begins with loading a coil of steel or master coil onto the uncoiler. The uncoiler can be a dual cone type for heavy gauges or a single end expanding mandrel type for heavy or light gauges. The coil can be loaded into the cones via a pusher type ramp or via a turnstile and coil car that threads the mandrel of the single end into the inner diameter of the master coil. The hold-down presses onto the outside diameter of the master coil and the bands are cut on the master coil. The coil is rotated off the cones or mandrel and peeled to allow the head of the coil to enter edge guides before the flattener and leveler (if flatness is critical in downstream operations). Next, The slitter, which consists of two parallel arbors mounted with rotary cutting knives.
These knives partially penetrate the coil stock causing a crack or fracture on both sides of the stock, separating the mults from one another. Rubber stripper rings are also employed depending on the material thickness to attain a good edge so no burr is present that will hinder downstream operations. As the material is slit, the far outside edges of the coil have edge trim. This edge trim is taken up on a scrap winder. If the material to be slit is extremely thin, a looping pit can be used to take up the varying thickness of the malts as the edge cuts are generally thinner than the center cuts.
The thinner the material, the longer the lineal footage in the master coil. The looping pit will take up the additional volume before entering the tension stand. The tension stand is located before the recoiler. A tensioning device is needed because the master coil is crowned or larger in diameter in the center of its width than at the edges. Without a tension stand, the slit material from the center of the master coil would take up more quickly while the outboard strips would hang loosely. The recoiler is an expanding mandrel type. It usually expands from 20” to 24” in diameter or greater with the use of expansion pads or leaves.
The recoiler takes up the slit mults. The recoiler mandrel is fitted with an overarm device which is a shaft with separator discs that prevent interleaving of the narrower coil widths. The position of the discs is directly in-line with the slitting knives. The finished slit mults are banded on the outside diameter and are pushed off of the recoiler mandrel onto an awaiting coil car or turnstile.
We take great pride in preparing our narrow-slit service and slit material to meet your specifications.
Our slitting lines offer the following benefits:
- Reduced time-to-delivery
- Reduced scrap
- Reduced costs
- Streamlined material flow
Contact California Steel Services for Steel Slitting Today
We welcome you to view our Steel Slitting services.
Contact Us for more information.