Stretch Film breaks a lot – about 3 to 7 times per roll on the average. But in the hustle and bustle of the typical workday, stretch wrapper operators simply don’t have time to figure out which of these causes is making their stretch film break so much.\u00a0And film breaks are more than just an irritation. Unless their causes are found and fixed, they lead to a nasty chain of events that can be difficult to escape.<\/p>\n
The film break cycle<\/h2>\n
The first step in this cycle is the film breaking. Then operators tweak the settings, typically turning down the film tension until the film stops breaking.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s understandable why an operator chooses to do this. First, many operators don\u2019t have the time to trouble shoot the root cause of a film break. This is especially true when film breaks happen in clusters, which they often do. Additionally, lock out, tag out safety procedures are time consuming and cumbersome. With all of this working against an operator, it really is unsurprising that turning down film tension is often the go to solution when film breaks occur.<\/p>\n
However, although it solves the immediate problem, that simple turn of a knob can set off a chain of destructive, unintended consequences that undermines the whole purpose of stretch wrapping – making sure your products ship safety to their destinations.<\/p>\n
With that operator adjustment to film tension the containment force is reduced. Reduced containment force leads, ultimately, to higher risks and therefore costs. Which, in turn, leads operators to go back to their settings and turn up the film tension.<\/p>\n
Turning down the film tension doesn\u2019t hurt containment force if<\/em> <\/strong>operators take the appropriate countermeasure: adding more film layers. Unfortunately, they often forget or don\u2019t know that they should do this.<\/p>\n Caught in this cycle of film breaks is a bad place to be. So, here are the first things you should check to avoid it when your film starts breaking:<\/p>\n 1. The Stretch Film 2. The Load and Pallet 3. The Stretch Wrapper If walking through these steps doesn’t identify the cause of your film breaks, it’s time to call in your maintenance team for help.<\/p>\nWhat causes film to break?<\/h2>\n
![\"Reasons](\"https:\/\/www.lantech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/1_why_film_breaks-resized-600-1.jpg\")
\nWhat should you be doing (rather than just turning down film tension) when film breaks?<\/h2>\n
\na. Is it threaded properly?
\nb. Is the film the one you’re supposed to be using?
\nc. Are there flaws (gels, nicks, tears, etc.)?<\/p>\n
\na. Are there sharp corners or protrusions?<\/p>\n
\na. Is the film tension set correctly?
\nb. Are there nicks, cuts, or resin build-up on the film contact surfaces?
\nc. Film Clamp (on fully automatic stretch wrappers):
\ni. Scissor Clamps:\u00a0 nicks, cuts, resin build-up on the film contact surfaces?
\nii. Vacuum clamps:\u00a0 is the air pressure correct? Air filter clean?<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/lantech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/0fffd112-ee2c-4cb7-aeae-1156c7e1d7a9.png\")
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