Review of Blown Film Extruders

I studied quite a lot of information on the internet and noticed that there is no full-fledged review of blown film extruders similar to car reviews. I think this is due to the not very high popularity of this industry compared with the automotive one, but since my clients are forced to make a choice based on the stories of salespeople

and spend quite a lot of time on all sorts of comparisons (especially newcomers to the market), I would like to make such a brief review.

The first thing I would like to do is divide extruders by country of manufacture; I believe this will make it easier to navigate than dividing them by number of layers, purpose and other characteristics.

So, the most popular in our country and, probably, in the world are Taiwanese extruders.

This is due to the fairly high quality of the equipment; after all, the Taiwanese try to stand out from their Chinese counterparts and do not want to make disposable equipment. Most factories use very good-quality components (Taiwan, Europe), be it electronic parts or metal.

Build quality is also excellent: for the money you pay, you get an extruder with normal output, a long useful service life (about 10–15 years) and easy operation, as well as reasonable and inexpensive service.

The downsides of Taiwanese equipment (besides the obvious ones — long logistics, time differences when communicating with the factory, sometimes long delivery of spare parts) include the lack of high-tech equipment comparable to European. After all, all the most advanced technologies and films are so far produced in practice on European equipment.

The best-known Taiwanese equipment manufacturers include:

KUNG SING - no official representative; it can be bought directly or through any Russian supplier.

The same situation applies to all companies that have no official representative. At the same time, it is far from certain that you will get a low price and service. The price is above average.

DIN KUEN - no official representative. The price is above average.

QWEENS - no official representative. The price is above average.

POLYSTAR - official representative: "Evropolimer-Trading", Rostov-on-Don. The price is, for Taiwan, closer to the middle.

JANDIS - official representative: "Evropolimer-Trading", Rostov-on-Don. The price is, for Taiwan, closer to the middle.

YEI - official representative: "Eksimpak-Equipment", St. Petersburg. The price is, for Taiwan, above average.

KUNG CHAO- official representative: "Polymer-Project", Moscow. The price is, for Taiwan, below average. Because of this price, these extruders are very popular in Russia.

Of course there are other factories, but they are not very widespread in our country or in the world, so the ones listed are quite enough.

These are all manufacturers of extrusion equipment, so for some the strong side is also pelletizers, others focus on multilayer machines, others on budget-segment mini extruders with Chinese components, some are strong in die head and screw design, but their electronics are weak, and so on.

In any case, the important thing when choosing an extruder is the initial task. What do you want?

To get the maximum output from one m2 of floor space and per kW consumed, and also to minimize the RUB spent on labor? Or is the question the maximum technological sophistication of the film produced, its strength, transparency and other parameters?

First of all, when choosing an extruder you should understand that you should not save on the configuration and automation of the machine (various auto air supplies, loaders, dosing units, interchangeable heads and spare screws); in any case you will incur these costs later, and in addition you will have spent time on decision-making, logistics and reinstallation.

Next in popularity are Chinese extruders; they are also quite popular in Russia, naturally because of their low price — no other advantages have been identified.

As with other Chinese equipment, everything depends on the manufacturer. There are factories that produce complete junk, and there are "luxury" ones, but already at Taiwanese prices, so such units do not reach us. The most widespread segments are low- and mid-range extruders. If we take the "bottom" of the market, these machines are not

distinguished by durability and quality: in the first year of operation your mechanics will fully experience the "merits" of cheap equipment, and your customers the "quality" of the resulting film. In the first year you will replace the screw, heaters, re-cover the rollers with rubber, replace bolts and so on and so forth. By the way, the output of Chinese extruders is also not the highest: with a stated, for example, 80 kg/h, it may be 40. And you will be able to make no claim against the supplier (especially, because he will say that all parameters are stated

if you bought "directly"), because he will say that all parameters are stated

as maximum values on the thickest film and with the die head removed.

The mid-price range of extruders is distinguished by quality components, often components from European factories located in China.

Factories producing such extruders can copy Taiwanese technologies quite well — blowing rings, screw designs and so on. If everything is copied intelligently, you get savings of 30% to 50% (depending on the class and price range of the equipment) compared with Taiwan.

In general, I personally recommend such extruders for start-ups with minimal investment: you will get a product, quality film and a relatively long service life.

One could write about Chinese factories and extruders for a very long time; all suppliers from many cities import them, and I see no point in listing them all. When choosing, it is important to pay attention to the availability of spare parts in the supplier's warehouse, to get some references from equipment that has been working for at least 2 years, and so on.

If you do not understand this equipment, you should not buy it based on price alone, because differences in price may be caused by configuration, quality and so on.

Other parameters, such as payback period, spare parts delivery time and service quality, depend on the specific product being made and the supplier. Practice shows that you should always choose a machine for the specific task: for standard products Taiwan is optimal, for testing new markets China is often the ideal option, and when you have a marginal product or guaranteed sales, Europe can also be considered.

Turkish factories have their own particular way of dealing with suppliers; Turks have their own customs and methods of working with buyers — you cannot get away from mentality.

I also did not write about domestic manufacturers: in our country there are several companies that produce film blowing equipment. For simple tasks this equipment may be suitable, but for anything high-tech, considering it is quite risky. What would worry me is that professional manufacturers (Taiwan or China, for example) have been building extruders for decades, 50–100 units every year, and have

extensive experience, spare parts availability and serial production. And assembling 10 extruders a year, each time from different components, is pure enthusiasm, not serious production.

Everyone uses Asian equipment — why reinvent the wheel, when it will obviously be — Besides, if you look at what large and medium-sized companies that have been on the market for quite a long time work on, you will see no Russian-assembled equipment at all.

In general, one can say that extruders are neither "bad" nor "good"; everything depends on the business project and many different parameters. From my experience, Taiwan is optimal if you want to start up a machine and work rather than deal with repairs and daily adjustments.

I.F. Khabibulin

Already have your own film tube and it's time to set up converting? Let's look at which bag-making machine to choose: the HS-1200T for T-shirt bags or a roll line.