Special clamp for special adhesive tapes

What are appliance clamps generally used for? For handling a wide variety of electronic devices. Saint-Gobain Tape Solutions demonstrates that these attachments have a wide range of applications. The company uses its customised clamp in plant traffic to transport rolls of special adhesive tape.

Saint-Gobain Tape Solutions is part of the global Saint-Gobain Group and has its key German site in Waakirchen, approximately 45 kilometres south of Munich. From here, it is not far to Lake Tegernsee and the Bavarian Alps; an idyllic location that attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year. Founded over 30 years ago, Saint-Gobain Tape Solutions develops and produces high-performance adhesive tapes. These predominantly invisible and largely unknown products are used in the aviation and automotive industries – for example, for bonding carpets in airplanes and cars – as well as in other industrial markets. The company is proud to produce at the highest technical level, without environmentally hazardous solvents, in Upper Bavaria.

"For Saint-Gobain, safety always takes centre stage," says Purchasing Manager Dirk Eisele. This claim is not only limited to the environment, but to the entire production process. "That's why we also had to find a safe solution for our altered plant traffic," continues Eisele. This is because transport has become somewhat more complex since the beginning of 2025. In which way? Saint-Gobain Tape Solutions has expanded its original factory premises and literally changed sides of the road. A new warehouse was built there, including one for rolls of special adhesive tape. These rolls can weigh up to 1,100 kg, have diameters ranging from 300 mm to 1,100 mm and are between 600 mm and 1,640 mm high when upright.

To reach the new warehouse, forklift trucks cross a little-travelled public road several times a day. Drainage channels on both sides of the road can easily cause the transported load to wobble. This represents a risk of losing the load – especially with rolls. "To prevent this from happening, we needed the right attachment for an additional forklift truck," explains the purchasing manager. Saint-Gobain Tape Solutions turned to the materials handling experts at Gruma and opted for a Linde E20 electric forklift truck from the 1252-01 series as the carrier vehicle. KAUP was quickly chosen as the supplier for the attachment. Dirk Eisele comments: "I already knew KAUP from before and was therefore aware of their engineering skills and expertise in meeting our requirements."

A clamp that doesn't clamp

The purchasing manager was right in his opinion of KAUP. He said: "We are happy with the project!" But what characterises the attachment with the full designation 'appliance clamp 1.5T413G-180' in particular? Upon examining the technical data, there are no significant differences compared to the standard device. The overall width and separate sideshift can also be found in many other clamps. The first difference is the opening range between the clamping arms. At 550 mm to 1,850 mm, this range differs from the standard device. But still nothing out of the ordinary.

Only the clamp arms are obviously not standard, although the arm height and arm length are the same. This is because, unlike the standard version, the clamping arms have no pre-tensioning, and there are also special wrap-around edges at the tip of the arm, with a leg length of approximately 250 mm. In addition, the clamping arms and the wrap-around edges are completely covered with foam rubber. The objective: no damage to the sensitive load.

But why did Saint-Gobain Tape Solutions not use a roll clamp as an attachment for transporting rolls? Dirk Eisele provides the obvious answer: "The rolls must not be clamped." This is why the adhesive tape rolls are also transported on Euro pallets. The appliance clamp has an additional pair of clamps with a load capacity of 1,500 kg to hold them. The '180' in the type designation refers to this and is definitely not a standard feature. The position of the forks is also not standard. They are 136 mm below floor level, i.e., below the clamp body, so that the pallets can be picked up correctly and at the same time the clamping arms can be closed to stabilise the rolls. That doesn't make handling very easy. Nevertheless, "the forklift and clamp are a good match," says forklift driver Ionut Gambra, adding: "They make work easier." He should know: He uses the attachment every day.