TRAY ERECTORS

Machines to hold blanks in a hopper, feed a blank to a forming section, by means of a top and bottom former produce on erected tray. The tray can be either lock over ends or glued.

Some machines have the capability of handling various styles of tray that include "flaps" on the top or a "chocolate box" style.

The majority of machines use hot melt systems although there are two manufacturers to my knoweldge using PVA adhesive applied by spraying.

TRAY STYLES

  1. Standard Tray - Various other styles can be erected, round cornered, locking ends, etc

  2. Standard Tray - Example of diagonal corner tray often used for bottles.

  3. Drop Front - Standard tray with display front.

  4. Lidded Tray - Chocolate box style, variations possible within the basic concept.

  5. Tray with flaps - Top of tray fully enclosed.

TRAY DESIGN
It is usual for blanks to be diecut.
From a machine operation aspect flute direction is immaterial. The actual styles of tray are quite limited, most machines being capable of producing trays only to the same basic design. These are trays similar to those shown as styles 1,2, 3; variations possible are normally limited to corner styles and slight differences in wall heights.
Some special machines are available to erect trays as style 5 and even some with special stacking ledges.
The maximum sizes of tray that can be erected on the average machine is 500 x 300 x 100.
Most machines will handle E and B flute but only a minority will erect double wall.
It is usual to incorporate cut-creasing along certain bends, some manufacturers insist on this feature on all bends.