Hot melt is an excellent option for a huge range of adhesive applications including in the packaging industry, textiles, wood process, electronics and automotive. If you’re curious about this adhesive option and whether or not it is a useful adhesive option for you, this guide will be helpful. Discover the advantages and requirements of hot melt adhesives and their equipment below.
What are Hot Melt Adhesives?
In order to understand the equipment, you first need to understand the adhesive. Hot melt, as its name suggests, needs to be melted and applied with heat to the surfaces it is adhering to. For this reason, hot melt dispensing equipment needs to heat the adhesive up to specific temperatures. This is a precise process, as hot melt that is too hot will create excess char, and hot melt that is too cold will not adhere as well as it should.
What is Hot Melt Dispensing Equipment?
In order to dispense hot melt, you need equipment that heats up the adhesive and then equipment that allows your staff to direct the flow of liquid hot melt and apply it to the surfaces they need to apply it to. While these are the basics, there are other equipment options that can also help you use the adhesive more efficiently and cost-effectively:
- Hot melt guns: This equipment takes pre-melted adhesive and sprays or applies it onto the surfaces, under the user’s direction, of course. There is a very wide variety of hot melt applicators on the market.
- Melters: This equipment is the first step in the hot melt application process. They take the pellets or other forms of hot melt and heat it to the ideal temperature. There are various sizes of melters intended for different volumes of glue and different demands from the applicator. When choosing a melter, it is important to consider how much maintenance the machine needs, as downtime for the machine will cut into your productivity and increase operating costs.
- Automatic hot melt feeders: These systems help reduce the manual labour involved in the hot melt applicating process. They take the chips out of their storage bin and feed them into the melter or tank appropriately. You can reduce labour costs and save staff time with these machines.
- Extruders: Instead of having the flow of adhesive under manual control, extruders provide continuous flow. This helps keep the quality of adhesive as high as possible, preventing degradation.
- Drum and pail unloaders: Unlike many melters and tanks which melt all of the adhesives in them at once, drum and pail styles only heat some at once, meaning they reduce charring and maintain a better-quality adhesive.
Learn More
At Bond Tech Industries, we’re your partner in everything hot melt adhesive. You can reach out to us to discuss which equipment options will work best with your adhesive, and for any other questions that you have about hot melts. Contact us today.
