A while back, someone asked about a tool to splice taped parts in mid-reel.
TopLine sells a Swiss-made tool, which we just evaluated:

The OEM is:

HRS Tape Splicer 4
H.R. Scheidegger
Holzweidweg 34
CH-4852 Rothrist
Switzerland
062-794-23-69

This tool handles tape widths from 8-80 mm, paper or plastic, thickness
range 0.3 to 1.2 mm.

It is a lever operated bench mount design, weighs 1.2 kg, 100x290x85 mm in size.

TopLine kindly let us try it on approval. We think it works nicely, the
splices are metal foil with adhesive backing. It is well made, and the
die-cut splices hold and feed well.

TopLine's price is $899 plus $129 for each of two cutting tools which have
sprocket pins to make the butt cuts. Splices are $295 per thousand.

IMO it would be faster than stripping a feeder in just about any case, and
dependent on the number of feeder "runouts" you encounter, it could pay off
- although it takes a minute or two accomplish the cuts and splice the new
tape end in place. If it can be done on your equipment without a complete
feeder removal, it could be worthwhile.

Contact them at 310-433-7000




Jerry Cupples
Interphase Corporation
Dallas, TX
http://www.iphase.com