| Machine | Process step | Typical range | What matters | Supply |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slitting line | Wide coil to narrow coil | 0.1–3.0 mm, up to 1300 mm wide, 5 t coil | Arbor rigidity, tension type, number of cuts | In-house |
| Ultra-thin slitter | Thin strip slitting | 0.02–0.2 mm, up to 650 mm wide | Servo tension, EPC guiding, burr control | In-house |
| Cut-to-length line | Coil to cut sheets | 0.2–3.0 mm, up to 1300 mm wide | Levelling rolls, length accuracy, stacking | In-house |
| Edge trimmer | Edge conditioning | 0.5–10 mm per side | Rotary shear clearance, line integration | In-house |
| Die cutting machine | Strip to cut parts | 0.02–0.5 mm, up to 650 mm wide | Registration accuracy, tool change time | Partner brand |
| Spring forming machine | Strip to constant force spring | 0.05–0.5 mm thick, 2–30 mm wide | Winding tension, cycle rate, changeover time | Partner brand |
Ranges are typical; final specification is per technical agreement. Supply column indicates in-house build or partner brand, confirmed in writing before order.
Qindaoyuan slits and continuously plates precision strip as its daily operation, including 0.005 mm stainless and 0.015 mm copper alloy. Machine selection therefore starts from problems encountered on a running line — thin strip pulled narrow by tension, misaligned recoiling, edge burr scratching the plated surface, arbor micro-vibration producing periodic width drift — not from catalogue figures.
The question buyers ask most is whether a machine can run 0.05 mm material. Our usual answer is not a specification but an offer: bring your own alloy and thickness, run a section on our line, measure width tolerance, burr height and coil alignment, and work back to the required configuration.
| Step | Calculate | Determines |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Coil weight and diameter | Max coil weight, ID, OD | Decoiler and recoiler capacity, mandrel type, unloading method |
| 2. Daily output | Tonnes or metres per day, changeover frequency | Line speed, automation level, twin recoiler |
| 3. Accuracy | Width tolerance, burr limit, coil alignment | Arbor accuracy, tension control type, EPC guiding |
| 4. Process headroom | Thinner or narrower material later? | Servo tension, reserved trimming and dust extraction stations |
Step four is the one most often skipped and the one that causes a second capital spend. A standard machine bought for 0.2 mm today is replaced entirely when a 0.05 mm order arrives next year; reserving servo tension and edge guiding at the outset removes most of that retrofit cost.
An ultra-thin slitter is not simply a standard line with finer knives. The real threshold is tension stability and guiding response. The thinner the strip, the narrower the usable tension window: too much tension draws the strip narrower than the knife setting, too little gives a loose coil with an uneven face that misaligns on the next unwind. Standard lines use magnetic particle brakes with ±3–5% variation; thin strip machines need closed-loop servo tension within ±1%.
The other hidden figure is burr. Burr height should stay under 10% of strip thickness; beyond that, burrs are pressed into the die during stamping, or exposed base metal appears through the plating on plated parts. Knife clearance, arbor runout and edge quality together set burr height — better knives alone will not fix a worn arbor.
The purpose of a cut-to-length line is not cutting but releasing coil internal stress. Acceptance is flatness, typically ≤1 mm/m, with length accuracy ±0.5 mm. The number, diameter and support of levelling rolls matter: few large rolls leave roll marks and wavy edges on thin material. Stacking machines also need attention to surface protection — copper and plated strip are scratched at the stacker more often than expected.
Edge trimming addresses edge quality: cracks in hot rolled coil, burrs after re-slitting, plating build-up at the edge. 0.5–10 mm per side, normally built as rotary shear heads on the slitting line and speed-linked to the main drive rather than occupying a separate operation.
Die cutting suits thin laminates such as nickel silver with conductive adhesive, or conductive fabric with protective film. Tooling is cheap, design changes are fast and registration is ±0.1 mm, which favours sampling and small-to-medium batches; unit efficiency is below a progressive die, so very large volumes need re-costing.
Constant force spring forming winds stainless or spring steel strip into constant force springs, 0.05–0.5 mm thick by 2–30 mm wide at 10–30 pieces per minute. The critical figures are winding tension consistency and changeover time — this is high-mix low-volume work where fast changeover usually beats peak speed.
Supplying strip and building machines mean the same thing to a buyer: selection can be proven with real material instead of promised in a specification. The strip you intend to buy and the machine you intend to buy can run on the same line first, with width tolerance, burr and coil alignment measured on the spot. That is why we entered the equipment business — the process windows come from production that runs every day, not from a catalogue.
Three ways to work with us: material only (slit and delivered on coil); machine only (with commissioning and operator training); or material plus machine, proving the process first and fixing the configuration afterwards.
Tension accuracy, edge guiding and arbor rigidity — not the knives. A standard line handles above 0.1 mm with ±3% tension variation; an ultra-thin slitter handles 0.02–0.2 mm and needs ±1%, otherwise thin strip is drawn narrow or starts to wave.
Running 0.05 mm copper foil on a standard line typically drifts width tolerance past ±0.1 mm with wavy edges. A dual-purpose machine is possible with servo tension and EPC guiding at roughly 40% higher cost — worthwhile below about 2 tonnes per day, otherwise two machines are cheaper overall.
For most stamped parts, yes. Tighten to ±0.02 mm in three cases: strip narrower than 3 mm; progressive dies with guide clearance under 0.1 mm; and downstream winding such as constant force springs or battery tabs.
Tolerance comes from arbor accuracy and tension stability, so specify the tolerance, not just the thickness.
No. A slitter cuts longitudinally into narrow coils; a cut-to-length line cuts transversely into flat sheets after levelling.
Coil supply for stamping needs a slitter only. Blanks for stamping or laser cutting need flatness and length accuracy, hence a cut-to-length line. A combined line doubles footprint and investment and pays back around 100 tonnes per month.
Depends on incoming edges. Hot rolled or re-slit coil often has micro-cracks, burrs and plating build-up that propagate into cracks or scratch the die — trimming is necessary there. Mill-finished coil with sound edges does not need it.
Most plants mount rotary shear heads on the slitting line at 0.5–10 mm per side, far cheaper than a standalone machine.
Shielding parts are thin laminates below 0.1 mm where stamping burrs and crushes the adhesive layer with expensive, slow-to-change tooling. Die cutting gives ±0.1 mm registration with quick tool changes, suited to sampling and small-to-medium batches.
Above roughly 100,000 pieces with a simple profile and no-burr requirement, stamping becomes cheaper per piece.
Four items with your own material: idle accuracy (arbor runout, guideway straightness); a 30-minute run sampling every 5 minutes to confirm stable tolerance; burr under 10% of thickness under magnification; tension variation within ±1% on thin strip machines.
Record measured data, and write measurable acceptance criteria into the contract instead of industry standard.
Standard slitting and cut-to-length lines 45–75 days, ultra-thin slitters 60–90 days, die cutting and forming machines 30–60 days, depending on configuration. Commissioning 3–7 days including trial material and operator training.
Export shipments add 2–4 weeks to Southeast Asia for freight and clearance. Stock serial-number spare parts with the first order to avoid a line standing idle waiting for a component.
Send alloy, thickness, width and daily output. We run a section on real material and report width tolerance, burr and coil alignment before discussing configuration or price.