3. PRE-PRODUCTION PROCEDURES

Getting started

Prior to cutting any fabric for production, clean the cutting blade and foot area of cutter and any area that might come in contact with the fabric or coating. The following tests should be performed to on every fabric to verify the compatibility between the tape and the fabric. See Sec. 8, "TROUBLE SHOOTING".

There have been many cases of unintentional changes in the chemistry of the coating formulation that were not discovered until items had been cut and sewn. This results in wasted production time and unnecessary expense. THEREFORE WE STRONGLY SUGGEST THIS PROCEDURE ALWAYS BE PERFORMED EVERY LOT OF FABRIC.

Perform a standard taping test under the conditions specified by the tape manufacturer for the specific tape and fabric coating that you will be using in production. See Sec.10 "Standard Seam Tape Test Method" and "Test Report".

To check the effectiveness of the bond, refer to Fig 3 a. Leaving a short (3") area of fabric , and a (3") "tail" of tape unsealed, seal a strip of the recommended tape to a small piece of fabric. This will allow the fabric and tape to be held in the hands. Allow tape and fabric to cool (approx. 5 minutes), then peel the tape from the fabric at a 180° angle (Fig 3 A). Generally, if the bond is satisfactory, tape will remove the coating from the fabric (Fig 3 B).

If coating is not removed, or bond feels weak, increase temperature and reduce the speed. Repeat taping test operation until satisfactory bond is obtained. Since coatings vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even from lot to lot from the same manufacturer, a good bond may be realized, but in some instances coating will not be removed.Once effective bonding has been achieved, production speed may be increased with commensurate increase in temperature. Record all machine settings for future reference.