All Posts By

Steve

Nov 02
0

Electric Tamp Development

By | print and apply labeling systems | No Comments

Print and Apply Labeling Systems

Nautilus Systems, Inc., in our ongoing efforts to enhance our products, is pleased to announce the development of an Electric Tamp Module that will be available for all of our PL series of Applicator products.  Key benefits of the Electric Tamp include flexibility in programming the motion of the tamp including rapid acceleration and deceleration, elimination of pneumatic cylinders and associated sensors, and overall reduced air consumption.  The Electric Tamp will be an optional module available for PL100i and PL165i Applicators.  The Electric Tamp will be as fast, or faster, than the pneumatic tamp but with the ability to provide highly controlled motion.  One special option this module will provide is a ‘push’ move.  The push move allows the Tamp to place a Label or Die-Cut Adhesive Component onto a substrate and then press it until meeting a set force threshold.  The end result is no more ‘banging’ that occurs when pneumatic tamps hit the target or substrate and the ability to provide specific force of application.  This product is in development at the time of the writing of this post and will be available as a product in the coming months.  Stay tuned for further info and thanks again for your interest in Nautilus Systems, Inc. Applicator products.

Jul 29
0

Three Carton Labels Printed and Applied Simultaneously!

By | print and apply labeling systems | No Comments

Print and Apply Labeling Systems

Nautilus Systems, Inc. was recently approached by a client with an application for placing three labels onto a small carton.  The carton was in a flat format such that the three sides requiring labels were all accessible with it in the flat form.  The label supplier had already arrayed the three labels on a liner such that their positions relative to each other matched the placement positions on the carton.  The client was using manual labor to remove the labels from the liner and apply them to the carton, one at a time.  A very important detail of this assembly was that the three labels were being printed in a thermal transfer printer as a set and each of the three labels in each set needed to be applied to the same carton.  There could be no mistakes in this process.

NSI evaluated the label material and recognized that the three label set fit within the size limits of a PL165i Applicator.  Having already used the PL165i to simultaneously feed, peel, and apply (>Capture>Peel>Place) multiple labels we immediately recognized this as the solution.  In order to provide the necessary thermal transfer printing we configured the PL165i with a 300 dpi thermal transfer printer.  This model of Applicator is the PL165-TTP. 

In the final implementation of this system an Operator places a flat Carton into a Fixture/Nest (provided by NSI) and triggers the PL165-TTP via our Series 1 Base assembly platform.  The PL165-TTP automatically prints the necessary data on the 3-label set, feeds the labels to the correct pickup location, and then peels and places the three labels onto the flat Carton.  The Operator then removes the labeled Carton from the Fixture, folds the Carton to the final shape, and inserts the product that ships in the Carton.  The Carton, which is rectangular in shape, has a printed label on the long edge, a second smaller label on the short edge, and a third larger label on the front face of the Carton.  Because all three labels were printed and applied in tandem there is no opportunity for unmatched labels to be applied to the Carton and a huge labor saving was realized by eliminating the manual assembly process.

Please see our website for further information regarding the PL165-TTP and our other products.

Jul 29
0

Precision Placement and Thermal Transfer Printing

By | print and apply labeling systems | No Comments

Print and Apply Labeling Systems

Nautilus Systems, Inc. has developed a new product line known as our PL100-TTP and PL165-TTP series which were released in the Spring of 2011.  These two new products combine our proven PL Series Applicator products with precision Thermal Transfer Printing (TTP) technology.  The end result of this combination is an easy to operate integrated unit that can handle any shape or configuration of label that fits within the size specifications of the PL100 or PL165 Applicator.  The printer is a proven product that stands on its own merit and is offered in 300 or 600 dpi in 4″ or 6″ width capacities.   The printer, which is provided with a basic label design software package, is compatible with virtually every label design software package available in the market today.

One major difference between our PL1XX-TTP systems and our PR100i Applicator is that the PR100i Applicator is setup for ‘zero queue’ printing while the PL1XX-TTP systems incorporate a short loop of material between the printhead and the dispense positions.   This means that the PL1XX-TTP systems will always have a short length of liner with pre-printed labels between the print and dispense positions.  For applications with variable data that must be printed ‘on demand’ the PL1XX-TTP is not a potential solution but for batch production where the printed data is consistent (including serialization in most cases) this solution provides a very versatile and easy to use system.

 For a case study of how this system was used please see our Blog article regarding the Three Label Carton Assembly or contact Nautilus Systems, Inc. with your questions.