What Equipment Is Needed to Produce Tinplate Boxes?

Tinplate boxes are common packaging products worldwide. Although tinplate boxes are less commonly used in some domestic markets, they are widely used internationally. When presenting tinplate boxes to domestic and international customers, we usually describe the production process. Here is a brief overview.

A qualified tinplate box must undergo a series of processing steps. What details require our attention? You can see curled edges around the box opening; the curl prevents the box from scratching people who touch it. In addition to flanging, the bottom and lid of the tinplate box must be processed. Fine and practical tinplate forming requires specific processing equipment. Lets look at some of the key machines.

Main processing equipment for tinplate boxes includes various stamping and forming machines, trimming and blanking presses, and other auxiliary devices. Stamping and forming use presses and dies to apply external force to tinplate so it takes the required shape and dimensions; the blanks are usually processed from hot-rolled or cold-rolled steel sheets or strips. The trimming and blanking machine cuts raw material to required sizes and separates parts from strip stock; this is a stamping process that produces parts of a certain shape by shear and stamping.

According to the tinplate box production process, we first use a printing press. Advanced printing presses are often imported and include brands such as Minglin, Fuji, and English machines.

Next, a cutting machine trims the printed tinplate along predetermined die lines to prepare for the next step.

The next step uses a stamping press. Depending on the box design complexity, the stamping line forms box features such as internal ribs, flanges, locking edges, roofs, and embossed areas. Stamping is the most critical process in can manufacturing and places strict requirements on equipment. A high-quality press produces better tinplate boxes and reduces scrap rates.

The final processing step is packaging. During packaging, many cans receive wax on pressed areas to prevent chipping during subsequent handling; a baking oven is used during packaging. The oven melts tacky coatings and wax marks and facilitates cleaning tinplate boxes, improving efficiency.

Beyond standard box shapes, some orders require special structures. Producing these boxes requires auxiliary equipment such as welding machines for seamless boxes or expansion machines for bulged designs. Each additional process adds corresponding equipment to the production line.

Because tinplate and stainless steel sheets are the main raw materials, automatic feeding systems sometimes encounter excessive sheet surface tension, easily causing double-sheet overlaps. These over-thick sheets seriously disrupt normal production.

Therefore, we must perform single/double sheet detection before the material enters processing.

Here we can use Atonm 900E Metal Dual-sheet Detection (900E Metal Dual-sheet Detection System), which is designed for metal sheet double-sheet detection in the printing and can-making fields and can accurately detect single or double sheets.

Atonm Metal Dual-sheet Detection system workflow

Double sheets enter the detection probe, the controller compares the sensing current to single/double sheet standard voltages, the controller/PLC outputs single/double signals, the PLC controls an actuator to remove the double sheets, and production resumes.

(Double-sheet detection workflow)