A label rewinder is a small purchase on a labeling line and a frequent reason a line stops. It is also the part most often bought without checking whether it matches the machine it has to feed.
Rewinders and unwinders do one job: they manage the roll. On the way in, an unwinder presents the label web at a controlled tension so the labeling head gets a steady feed. On the way out, a label rewinder takes up the spent liner, or takes up a finished roll of labels after printing or inspection.
Marapack Services specifies, supplies, installs and services web handling for labeling lines as the Pacific Northwest distributor for Altech labeling systems, and we specify it against the machine it has to work with rather than against a catalog page.
Not sure your rolls match your machine? Book an equipment audit and we check the core, the roll diameter and the web against the head on site.
What is the purpose of a label rewinder?
A label rewinder winds material back onto a roll. On a labeling head it takes up the spent liner after the labels are peeled off, so waste does not pile up or stop the line. Off line, a standalone rewinder winds finished labels after printing, inspection, counting or splitting a wide roll.
An unwinder does the opposite job on the way into the machine. Between them there are three distinct jobs, and they get confused.
1. Liner takeup on a labeling head
The everyday one. After the labels are peeled off, the spent liner has to go somewhere. Either the machine has an integrated rewinder, or somebody empties a waste bin, or a separate rewinder takes it up.
This sounds like housekeeping and it is not. On a busy line, a full rewind stops the machine, and an overflowing waste bin gets ignored until the web wraps a drive roller. An integrated or correctly sized rewind is the difference between an operator who deals with the waste once a shift and one who stops the line.
The ALritma X S, one of the ALritma X applicators, carries an integrated 250 mm (about 9.8 in) rewinder for exactly this reason.
2. Roll rewinding, off line
A standalone bench or floor rewinder winds a roll of labels, typically after printing, inspection, counting or splitting a wide roll down. This is the class most people mean when they search for a label rewinder machine, and it is the one that Amazon and general e-commerce results answer.
Tach-It makes a label rewinder, the SH-455. Tach-It is one of the brands we service, and we stock Tach-It parts.
If the job is really hand labeling at a bench rather than a roll problem, the answer is usually one of our semi automatic label dispensers instead.
3. Unwinding into a machine
An unwind unit presents the roll to the labeling head or the printer at a controlled tension. Where the roll is heavy, large diameter, or the head has no unwind of its own, this is a real component rather than a bracket. On an Altech line the unwind is part of the head specification, whether the head comes from the Altech ALritma range or the ALstep family.
Unwind units are catalog items on the Altech price list, and the unwind and rewind assemblies that turn up in our own parts orders are the 300 mm and 400 mm units (about 11.8 and 15.7 in). Replacements come through parts for Altech machines, quoted against the machine serial number.
Which numbers decide whether a label rewinder or unwinder fits?
Three numbers decide the fit, and all three are machine specifications rather than preferences: the core size the mandrel takes, the maximum roll diameter the unwind and rewind accept, and the web width and tension the machine runs. When a rewinder or unwinder gives trouble, check these three first.
1. Core size. The inside diameter of the cardboard core the roll is wound on. Your converter has standard cores. Your machine has a mandrel. If they do not agree, you have an adapter problem at best and a roll you cannot run at worst. Check both before ordering labels, not after.
2. Maximum roll diameter. How big a roll the machine will physically accept, on both the unwind and the rewind side. Bigger rolls mean fewer changes and less downtime, and there is a hard ceiling set by the machine. A roll your converter can happily make is not automatically a roll your machine can take, and this is a common cause of a new installation underperforming immediately.
3. Web width and web tension. The width of the liner, and how hard the machine pulls it. Tension too high breaks webs and stretches labels. Too low and the web slips, which shows up as missed and drifting labels rather than as a web problem, which is why it gets misdiagnosed.
Get those three right and most of the rest is straightforward. Get one of them wrong and the machine will be blamed for it for years.
What line problems does a label rewinder solve?
A label rewinder solves problems that rarely get blamed on it: labels drifting because the web slips, roll changes that come too often, spent liner on the floor of a wet room, and rolls wound the wrong way for the machine. Each looks like a different fault, and each traces back to the roll.
Labels drifting or skipping. Where web tension is not controlled, the web slips at the drive, and the machine dispenses a little less than it thinks. That reads as a sensor fault and is not one. Our label applicator troubleshooting guide walks through the web checks.
Frequent roll changes. If the machine takes a bigger roll than you are running, you are stopping the line more often than you need to. Sometimes the fix is a bigger roll and a conversation with the label converter rather than any equipment at all.
Waste handling in a wet or cold room. Spent liner on the floor of a wet packhouse is a slip hazard and a housekeeping audit finding. A rewind is cheaper than either.
Label counting off line. A rewind pass is where an off line count or a visual check of a roll happens, away from the running line.
Splitting or reversing a roll. Wound in, wound out, and the direction the labels face coming off the roll all have to match what the machine expects. A rewinder is how a roll that is wound the wrong way gets fixed without going back to the converter.
Which label rewinders and unwinders can we supply and service?
We supply Altech unwind and rewind assemblies, including the 300 mm and 400 mm units, and the ALritma X S head with its integrated 250 mm rewinder, as the Pacific Northwest distributor for Altech labeling systems. We service Tach-It machines, including the SH-455 rewinder, and stock Tach-It parts.
- Altech unwind and rewind assemblies, including the 300 mm and 400 mm units, as parts of a labeling system or as replacements on an existing one.
- Integrated rewind on the ALritma X S labeling head, where the takeup is part of the machine rather than an extra box.
- Service and parts for Tach-It rewinders, including the SH-455.
- Specification support, which is the part that actually matters: matching core size, roll diameter, width and tension across your converter, your printer and your labeling head so all three agree.
Where the rewinder question turns out to be a head question, start from our applicator heads and work back to the roll.
We do not sell labels. We work alongside regional pressure sensitive label converters and will coordinate the roll specification so the stock, the adhesive, the core and the roll diameter match the machine. Getting the core and roll diameter wrong is a surprisingly common cause of a new system underperforming, and it is entirely avoidable with one conversation before the first order.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a rewinder and an unwinder? An unwinder feeds a roll into a machine at a controlled tension. A rewinder takes material up onto a roll, either spent liner from a labeling head or finished labels after printing or inspection. Some machines do both, and some do one in both directions.
How much does a label rewinder cost? It depends on which of the three jobs it does: a standalone roll rewinder, an unwind or rewind assembly on a labeling head, or rewind built into the head itself. Web width, maximum roll diameter and core size then decide the model. We quote once we know the machine it has to work with, because a rewinder priced without that is priced for a different machine.
Do we need a separate rewinder if our labeling head has one built in? Usually not for liner takeup. You may still want a standalone rewinder for off line work such as counting, inspecting, splitting rolls or reversing wind direction.
What core size do we need? Whatever your machine's mandrel takes, which is a machine specification. Tell us the machine and we will tell you, and then tell your label converter so the two agree.
Our web keeps breaking. Is the rewinder the problem? Sometimes. More often it is tension set too high, a brake dragging at the unwind, a damaged roll edge, or a splice in the roll hitting the peeler bar. Work through the web checks in our label applicator troubleshooting guide first.
Can we run a bigger roll to reduce changeovers? Only up to the maximum roll diameter the machine accepts, and that ceiling includes the unwind arm and any guarding. Check before you order the bigger roll, because a pallet of rolls your machine cannot take is an expensive mistake.
Is a rewinder worth it just for waste liner? On a line running any real volume, yes, and more so in a wet or cold room where loose liner on the floor is a safety and audit problem as much as a housekeeping one.
Do you service rewinders you did not sell? Yes, on the brands we service: Altech, Label-Aire 3100 applicators and 5100 systems, PackLeader, CTM and Tach-It. We stock parts for Altech, PackLeader, some Label-Aire and Tach-It machines.
Get the roll specification checked
The cheapest hour in this part of the line is the one where somebody checks the core size, the roll diameter and the web width against the machine before the next label order goes in.
Call 253-709-5566, or request an equipment audit and we will check the roll against the head before your next label order.