Cross Cutters

Maintenance, repair and optimization of VITS cross cutters

This section deals with the VITS sheeter / plano sheet delivery for cutting and stacking printed or unprinted paper webs into various sheet formats, which was designed in the 1970s by the ingenious Leichlingen engineer Hilmar Vits and has been continuously and successfully developed ever since.

Many well-known manufacturers of printing and paper processing machines of all kinds have since integrated the technologies for the floating guidance of web-shaped products, the shingling and stacking of sheets on a pile, as well as many other developments, either fully or partially into their machine concepts, and to this day thousands of users from a wide range of industrial sectors worldwide benefit from the pioneering ideas of the technical innovator Hilmar Vits.

Around 800 VITS sheeters are still in use worldwide as plano / sheet delivery units behind 8-48-page commercial web offset presses. We offer you the complete service package for your VITS sheeter, from urgently needed repairs and intelligent and effective maintenance concepts to the conversion of complete assemblies to increase the performance of your machine or to adapt it to special production requirements.

Maintenance & repair

Our decades of experience with VITS cross cutters (since the end of the 1980s) show us time and again that even small investments in preventive maintenance can achieve very effective results and avoid unexpected machine downtimes to a large extent. depending on the utilization of the cross cutter, we recommend tailor-made and regular maintenance programs to maintain the performance level once achieved for as long as possible and also to identify hidden sources of error in good time and treat them precisely.

Modifications to increase performance

With your VITS sheeter Rotocut, Rotocut S, Rotocut ST or Rotocut HS you are using a very stable and powerful machine for the production of plano sheets or folded products (4x4, 2x8 pages, etc.).

Our technicians have been working intensively on the technology and optimum adjustment of all VITS sheeter models since the mid-1980s. Unique know-how coupled with a great deal of valuable feedback on improvement possibilities, also from users, enables us today to significantly improve the performance and user-friendliness of these systems.

We offer you the following optimization options for your VITS sheeter:

• Conversion measures to increase production speed with 60-130gr/m² offset paper to up to 65,000 copies/hour.
• Conversion measures to increase production output with light papers (approx. 30-50gr/m²)
• Conversion measures to increase production output with heavy and coated papers (approx. 150-280gr/m²)
• Conversion measures to increase production speed with narrow and folded webs / sheets (e.g. 500mm wide webs, or several small panels next to each other)
• Conversion of the side stop for simplified operation even during production
• Conversion of the floating table I for simplified operation even during production
• Conversion of shaft-driven machines to shaftless drive via frequency-controlled servo motor and drive / inverter
• Conversion of the electrical system to S7 control to avoid obsolescence

Modular principle for new and rebuilt shear cutters

The unique "modular principle" of our rebuilt sheeter is economically advantageous and effective for every customer, allowing cost savings through a machine configuration specially adapted to the individual production capacity utilization. the great advantage: If the production requirements for the machine change over time, it can be expanded at any time with assemblies optimized for these new requirements! this means you always stay "up to date" with your technology, and at extremely low costs compared to a new purchase!

Consulting on the purchase of new and used inline and offline cross cutters for processing paper, film and other web-shaped substrates

We offer you market-leading sheeter technologies for cutting a wide range of materials, especially sensitive single and multi-lane materials. (paper, film, etc.)

Thanks to our very specific know-how, which we have acquired through decades of experience with air transport and belt cross cutters, we can provide you with compact and advanced new and used solutions in a targeted and intelligent manner for your related (investment) projects in (format-based and format-free) web offset printing, gravure printing, flexographic printing and digital printing, as well as paper and film production/processing. Together with our strategic partners, we can offer you globally unique technologies, particularly for cutting and transporting light and thin substrates (e.g. films or light papers) and long format lengths.

The following is a small excerpt from our delivery options:

• New sheeter (small and large format, cut-size, folio)
  of various makes with variable cut-off length (machine size and design depends on the application and will be determined together with you)
• Refurbished and retreaded used sheeter (small and large format, cut-size, folio)
  with fixed and variable format length / cut-off length (e.g. Vits/ Goss Contiweb, Vits America, Jagenberg, Questec, Milltech, SHM/ Strachan & Henshaw, BW Paper Systems, Valmet/Strecker, Pasaban, Hunkeler, Hobema, ECH Will, Will Pemco, Marquipwardunited, Bielomatik, Apollo, Cavalleri, ESS, Unigraphica and many other brands on request)
• Cross-cutting cassettes
  for precise installation in existing applications and drive systems

Extract from the delivery variants and additional options:

• Inline operation behind a web press (web offset, gravure, flexo, digital printing) or other production system for web-shaped materials
• Offline operation with unwinding, also with other finishing options and units (perforating, compressing/creasing, embossing, punching, creasing, grooving, folding, laminating/coating/laminating, varnishing (water-based/dispersion varnish/UV varnish, etc.), printing/personalizing (inkjet and other units for security features, watermarks, RFID, etc.)
• Stacking system (semi or fully automatic)
• Batcher / stacker / ream delivery / sheet separation
• Cut-out and reject diverter with connection to electronic defect and splice detection systems
• Longitudinal cut / center cut / edge trimming / trimming
• Rewinding, also separate rewinding of individual web panels (edge trim rewinder)
• Integrated register mark control
• Integrated 100% PDF control system
• Various integrated control systems for monitoring product quality

Range of services

Of course, performance ultimately depends on many different factors, but the following is a rough performance range of the high-performance sheeter we offer:

Applications:1-lane or multi-lane
Substrate: paper/film/metal/tissue/overlay - other substrates on requestSubstrate
weight: 15 - 1000 gr/m²Substrate
thickness: 20 - 500 my
Working width: 200 - 2500mm
Size length: 200 - 2500mm
Speed: 50 - 700m/minmax.
Cutting accuracy: up to +/- 0.15mm (with integrated digital register control)

In order to provide initial information about the expected performance with your material and your application, we need precise technical specifications and a description of your substrates.In some cases it makes sense to send us a test roll for test purposes.

Your sheeter request: contact/application form

Substrates that can be cut and transported with the cross cutter:

• All types of paper and cardboard from 15gr/m² to approx. 1,000gr/m²
• Most plastic films, e.g. PE and PP films, PC, PA, PS, PET, APET, PETP, PVC, OPP, BOPP
• Polylactide films (PLA), ETFE films, UHMWPE, cellulose acetate films
• Battery separator film, printed electronics
• Aluminum foils, aluminum vapor-deposited foils, gold foils (gold leaf), tin foils (tin foil)
• Cling films, adhesive films, adhesive films, stretch films, plastic bags
• Brochure covers, display protection film, labeling films, overhead films
• Sun protection films, UV protection films, radiation protection films, battery separator films
• Bubble films, tubular films, stretch films, adhesive films
• Blown films, demetallized and coated as well as lacquered films and parafilm
• Overlay (laminate coating), cellophane paper, flower paperand much more on request.

Air cross cutter

Sophisticated air transport technology is used to create a vacuum cushion on which even the most sensitive materials can be transported to the end of the pile almost without contact and at the highest speeds.

Air cross cutters come into play in particular when conventional (belt) cross cutters can no longer deliver satisfactory results!

The system is specially designed for processing, braking and shingling the most sensitive materials and long format lengths in single-lane operation.

(Ribbon) cross cutter

cannot transport or slow down thin, sensitive and very light substrates in long formats well due to their nature, because the sheet is compressed very quickly.
These products can either not be processed at all or only uneconomically slowly with belt technology or with several webs on top of each other.

Belt technology is clearly interesting and economical when processing large quantities and large basis weights (>400gr/m²) in multiple lanes, e.g. in paper processing.it therefore depends on the individual application which technology is best suited.

Your inquiry about an air or belt sheeter: contact/application form

Supporting services

We also offer the following services for your sheeter:

• Revamping measures (tuning) of your used sheeter (mechanical and electronic)
• Maintenance, repair & commissioning
• Relocation & installation
• Production monitoring and optimization
• Performance check with documentation (to check your performance potential)
• Staff training

Maintenance and installation work is carried out by our own specially trained personnel.