Tire and Roll Manufacturing Equipment

Tire manufacturing equipment and roll manufacturing equipment is designed for tire profiling, roll or roller forming, roll covering, roll grinding, finishing and profile inspection. Strip builders, strip wrappers, roll lathes, roll grinders, profile inspection systems, and complete roll shops are included in this product area. Specialized tire and roll manufacturing equipment is used to monitor and control the thickness and profiles of tires, extrusions, or rolls during manufacturing. Profiling systems often use optical techniques to rapidly gage the condition of the product on a production line. Processing parameters can be adjusted to ensure that thickness and profile specifications are met. Tire profiling systems are sometimes used by rebuilders or retreaders that recondition or retread used tires. Rolls and rollers are used with web and sheet handling and processing equipment in steel mills, paper mills, coated abrasive makers or making machines and textile machinery. High-performance and very accurate tire and roll manufacturing equipment is important because the roundness, dimensions and surface-finish condition of rolls and rollers are critical in maintaining quality and throughput in high-volume web and roll-good applications.

Selecting tire manufacturing equipment and roll manufacturing equipment requires an understanding of manufacturing processes. Rubber or thermoplastic elastomer roll or roller manufacturing consists of multiple processes such as strip forming or extrusion, strip wrapping, roll surface grinding and final finishing or polishing. Strip builders consist of a rubber or thermoplastic extruder that produces roll strips, which are then conveyed to a winding or stripping unit. The roller core or roll mandrel is mounted between the headstock and tailstock of the strip wrapping unit. After the thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) or rubber strips are bonded to the mandrel, a roll grinder or roll grinding attachment is used to produce the desired surface and shape configuration, which is typically a shape with uniformly round cross-section. Crowned or grooved rolls can be ground for special applications such as pattern coating. Additional polishing and finishing units are applied to refine the surface finish to the desired smoothness. With some tire and roll manufacturing equipment, very small rollers or rolls (0.5" to 3.5" O.D.) can be formed directly around a mandrel or steel core through a crossheading extrusion or casting process.

Tire manufacturing equipment and roll manufacturing equipment can be used for the resurfacing or re-covering of used or damaged roll or rollers; however, additional process steps are required, such as removing or stripping the old or damaged roll-covering, and surface preparation (sandbasting) of the steel mandrel or core to ensure good bonding to the new covering. Steel rolls and roller as well as roll cores or mandrels are produced through casting, forging or rolling, machining and grinding processes. In some processes, a steel or hard faced roll or roller is required. In these applications, the steel roll may be surface or case hardened, hard faced with a harder alloy overlay, or coated with a thermal sprayed carbide or ceramic layer. Suppliers of tire and roll manufacturing equipment can provide information about additional processes.

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