The most economical way to join coil ends for continuous strip processing – and the only way for non-ferrous metals, martensitic and many grades of stainless steel – is with a mechanical stitcher.
Because stitchers are much less expensive than welders, they are even being used in some carbon steel applications, such as strip pickling lines.
Early strip stitchers had a serious shortcoming; when the strip was jogged to make the second row of stitches, the first row interlocked. This often resulted in only one row of stitches carrying the full load of strip tension, leading to stitch failure. ADS developed and patented a stitcher design that indexed the stitcher die to make the second row of stitches and then interlocked both rows simultaneously using one stationary and one pivoting strip clamp. We call this our indexing interlocking stitcher. For lighter gauge applications, we also produce stitcher dies that punch two rows of stitches simultaneously before interlocking.
These methods help prevent stitch failures. We have used our indexing interlocking stitcher in demanding applications such as non-ferrous anneal lines in which the strip is heated to nearly the melting temperature in the annealing furnace.
If you are looking for a fast, economical, dependable way to join strip ends, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
For more details, view our Strip Stitchers Brouchure.