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Behind The Wrap
Technical insights and behind-the-scenes expertise from the Rhino Shrink Wrap team.
No Heat / No Naked Flame Shrink Wrapping - Can It Be Done?
A hot air gun is usually the essential piece of equipment for shrink wrapping, used for welding / joining individual sheets together and of course shrinking the sheeting ‘drum tight’. Although the designs of individual guns can vary a little, for 99% of projects, a hot air gun is used powered by propane gas which is ignited to create a flame. The hot air which this flame produces is used to weld and shrink the plastic However, we are sometimes asked if there is an alternative to using a naked flame for shrink wrapping. This is typically because the encapsulation is required in an area where there could be a risk of explosion. This short article looks at two alternatives to a naked flame heat gun for shrink wrapping. First we will consider the electric heat tool and then we will look at a completely different approach to shrink wrapping which does not use heat at all but rather a tensioning and gluing technique. Electric Heat Tool A commonly used alternative to a propane gas hot air gun is an electric heat tool. However, this is not the usual ‘paint stripper’ type of tool you might imagine but rather an industrial grade tool – the Forte S3 manufactured by Leister. To achieve anywhere near the power of the propane gas gun, this electric heat tool must be powered by a 3-phase electric supply (3 x 400V). Although the Forte S3 is the most powerful hand held electric heat gun available, it can be awkward on scaffolding / construction projects. At 4.4Kg, it is almost 4 x the weight of a propane gas gun and the ergonomics of the device are such that it must be held with two hands. This means that typical shrink wrapping tasks such as creating a welded joint becomes a two person job as one person is needed to hold the heat tool and heat the plastic and another person is needed to press the sheets together. However, the main challenge with using even a powerful electric heat tool for shrink wrapping such as the Leister Forte S3 is that with an output of 10kW, it has 5-10 times less power than a propane gas heat tool. Whilst this probably does not make much of a difference if you are shrinking a small cover around a pallet, for a large scaffolding or industrial encapsulation which can be many 1000’s of square metres of plastic, this lower power output will greatly add to the installation time and so the cost of the job. Tensioning & Gluing An alternative to the gas and electric heat gun, which requires no heat at all is the tensioning and gluing technique. This installation method was first developed for shrink wrap encapsulation projects in oil refineries. First, the shrink wrap sheet is cut to a sufficient size to cover at least one scaffolding lift with at least 500mm surplus around the top and bottom sheeting rails. This surplus is wrapped around a tensioning bar and a ratchet strap is used so that the tensioning bar is pulled upwards and the shrink wrap sheeting is pulled tightly around the lowest sheeting rail. When the sheeting is still tensioned, the shrink wrap sheeting is temporarily clipped to the lowest sheeting rail either side of the tensioned area. Then, an adhesive spray is used to glue the shrink wrap sheeting (either side of the tensioned areas) around the lowest sheeting rail and back on to itself. Once the glued joints have cured, the tensioned areas are released and glued and the entire process is repeated until the first section / run of sheeting is attached, tensioned and glued. If you would like to see the tensioning and gluing technique in action, we have a very short video, recorded in our test & training facility in Cheshire; https://youtu.be/q8pUlPyAmRE The main challenge with the tensioning and gluing technique is that it is difficult to tension large areas of sheeting. With traditional scaffold encapsulation, using a gas hot air gun, the sheeting is typically dropped around 3 lifts / 6m vertical drop, before it is fixed back to the scaffolding and heat shrunk. With the gluing and tensioning technique, it is necessary to install the shrink wrap sheeting in much smaller drops. This means that the installation process will be around 3-4 times slower than using a propane gas gun. Summary So, which approach should you take? Both the electric and the tensioning / gluing technique can be good solutions but the extra time required for these methods (and hence extra costs) should not be underestimated. If you would like a demonstration / trial of either of these no heat / no naked flame shrink wrapping techniques call our team on 01477 532222 own email info@rhinoshrinkwrap.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
Printing on Scaffold Shrink Wrap - What Are My Options?
We are all familiar with seeing traditional scaffold sheeting, such as ‘Monarflex’, custom printed to display a contractor’s logo as the sheeting is wrapped around a scaffolding, lift by lift. In recent years, often in high profile urban locations, printed building wraps have also become quite familiar – tensioned micro mesh banners which display a high quality advertisement or reproduction of a building facade. Naturally, a frequent question we get asked at Rhino is; Can you print a custom logo on to scaffold shrink wrap sheeting? The answer is…..it depends. Whilst it is certainly possible to print on shrink wrap film, the very wide and heavy duty films that we use for scaffold wrapping and industrial packaging can be quite challenging to custom print. Furthermore, scaffold shrink wrap is not installed in exactly the same orientation and position on the scaffold and since it is heat shrunk drum tight, the shrink process can have potential to create some distortion in the imagery. Despite this, at Rhino we can offer a printed shrink wrap option and this article outlines some of the options available. There are two main ways that we print scaffold shrink wrap sheeting – ‘In line’ and ‘Out of line’. In Line Printing For Scaffold Shrink Wrap In-line printing is where the shrink wrap material is printed at the point of manufacture. This is generally the most cost effective option and works well for simple logos, up to 3 colours, and for shrink wrap films wider than 6 metres. However, because the film is being printed as it is manufactured, there will be a minimum volume – which is typically at least 1 ton of film. The other limitation for in line printing is that as the width of the film increases, the number of colours it is possible to print decreases. For a film greater than 8m wide, it is only possible to print in 1 colour. To overcome these limitations we offer an out of line printing option. This is where the shrink wrap film is first manufactured, then printed on a more specialist printer at a later time. This gives the most flexibility as to the number of colours and complexity of design and is most useful for lower volume ‘custom’ requirements. Out of Line Printing For Scaffold Shrink Wrap The first challenge faced when considering out of line printing on standard stocked scaffold shrink wrap film is finding a printer large enough! Consider that the smallest roll size we normally use for scaffold shrink wrapping is 7 metres wide x 15m long. Although large format printers do exist, large format in this case means a capability of 3,4,5 or perhaps 6 metres wide. However, even the largest 6m wide digital printer is not big enough for standard scaffold shrink wrap. To solve this, at Rhino we offer a 3m wide flame retardant scaffold shrink wrap film which we can print with logos and designs to your custom requirements. This scaffold wrap can then either be installed ‘standalone’ or incorporated as part of a much larger scaffold shrink wrap project. If you are interested in custom printing on to shrink wrap film for your next project, call our friendly team for a chat on 01477 532222. We look forward to hearing from you.
Avoid Uninsured Losses - 3 Ways To Check If Your Scaffold Shrink Wrap is LPS1215 Compliant
In this short guide I will show you 3 quick and easy ways to check if the scaffold shrink wrap you are purchasing is compliant with the LPS1215 certification scheme. Although not required by everyone, if you work in high risk environments such as shipyards or offshore this is what you need to do to ensure the correct materials are used. Why should you use LPS1215 sheeting for your projects? Whether you are buying shrink wrap materials to install yourself, or sub contracting the work to a shrink wrap installation company it is important that you are aware of the flame retardant standards. Simply put, you should use LPS certified scaffold sheeting in order to cover your back when there is a risk of a fire. Only using LPS certified materials helps to cover a company for loss and damages incurred in the event of a fire because only LPS is backed by the insurance industry in the UK. Use of a product which is not certified to LPS 1215 or LPS1207 may result in the company suffering uninsured losses. What is the difference between LPS1215 and EN13501? The other most common flame retardant standard used by shrink wrap companies is the European standard EN13501. The main difference between LPS and EN13501 is that to achieve the LPS1215 standard requires an independent audit of the shrink wrap manufacturing facilities every year by the LPCB. During the audit, samples of scaffold shrink wrap film from three production runs that have taken place over the previous 12 months is taken and tested to ensure it reaches the flame retardancy standards laid down by the LPCB. This means that no ‘deception’ is possible as the product formulation that is being manufactured now has to be the same as that which was originally sent to the laboratories to obtain the initial flame retardant certification. So, using an LPS certified film significantly reduce risk and demonstrates due diligence. On the other hand, the EN13501 test is a one off test, a ‘snapshot’ if you like, of a shrink wrap’s flame retardant at a point in time. There are no checks or audits to check that the formulation of the film is not changing over time (such as less flame retardant additive being included.) Checking if your sheeting is LPS compliant – Step 1 – Check Online All approved products can be checked free of charge at www.redbooklive.com. Simply type your shrink wrap manufacturers name into the search box click on ‘search our listings’. On the next page you you can then choose to search by a number of different criteria including search by company name or certificate number. I have included a screen shot below. Checking if your sheeting is compliant with LPS1215 – Step 2 – Ask your supplier for certificates The second step to ensuring that the shrink wrap sheeting is compliant with LPS1215 is to ask your supplier for the LPS Certificates and check that the certificate number matches the certificate numbers online (see step 1). Click on the certificate thumbnail to see a full scale PDF version of a certificate. Checking if your sheeting is compliant wit LPS1215 – Step 3 – Check what is printed on the scaffold shrink wrap film Check the markings on the wrap, you will have to excuse me as earlier I stated that LPS should be printed on the wrap, please find attached picture which has a LCPB stamp with the certificate number. In the picture below, the certificate number is 789b and it is clearly displayed below the LPCB logo / stamp. Thanks for reading! As always, if you liked this article, please share. If you need any help or advice with any aspect of using shrink wrap sheeting for temporary weather protection or environmental containment get in touch with myself and my team; info@rhinoshrinkwrap.com or +44 (0)1477 532222.
Training For Scaffold Shrink Wrapping - How To Make It A Success
Are you considering offering a scaffold shrink wrapping service to your customers? If so, you have probably considered getting some training in scaffold shrink wrapping techniques for you or your team. Here are a few tips to ensure you get the shrink wrapping skills you need to be successful. HOW DO I FIND A TRAINER? Most of the suppliers of scaffold shrink wrap materials and equipment will offer training services. However, try and find out a bit about the trainer before you go ahead. A shrink wrap trainer with lots of theoretical knowledge may not be able to give you as much useful information as someone who acquired their shrink wrapping knowledge through long periods ‘on the tools’. Some shrink wrap suppliers use supervisors or members of their own installation teams (if they also provide a shrink wrap installation service) and they can generally provide valuable additional ‘tips & tricks’ for your team that they have learnt through practical experience. HOW MANY PEOPLE SHOULD I TRAIN? Although there is no limit to the amount of operatives that can be trained, over the years we have found that one trainer to around four ‘trainees’ works best. More than four trainees and the amount of ‘hands on’ practice time that each trainee gets with the shrink wrapping heat gun is too small and the ‘banter to work’ ratio can get out of hand! If you have more people on your team that you would like to train, consider splitting the group into two seperate shrink wrap training sessions or asking your supplier for multiple trainers. WHERE SHOULD THE SHRINK WRAP TRAINING TAKE PLACE? Carrying out shrink wrap training on a small scaffolding structure in the confines of your own yard / premises is a good option. It is easy for the trainer to see what everyone is doing and provide help, and everyone can get plenty of practice in without fear of making a mistake. If you have an undercover area where the shrink wrap training can take place, then you don’t need to worry about being ‘rained off’. For a training structure in your yard then a three sided structure with roof works really well. Having one side open allows everyone to see what is going on. However, it could be argued that a simple training structure is not realistic enough and that a team might struggle when they face their first proper job. An alternative option is to carry out scaffold shrink wrap training on a live project / construction site. This has the possibility of having your customer pay for the completed scaffold shrink wrap job and so cover the cost of the training. However, there is a risk that if the newly trained ‘wrappers’ are not confident they will hold back, afraid to make a mistake, and it may be the shrink wrap trainer ends up doing the job whilst your team do not get the shrink wrapping experience they need! As a compromise why not consider a two day training session which combines the best of both worlds? The first day could consist of shrink wrapping a small ‘training structure’ in your yard and the second day consist of working on a live job with the trainer assisting and providing advice. Most shrink wrap suppliers should provide a discounted training rate for the second day. WHAT MATERIALS & EQUIPMENT WILL I NEED? You are going to need all the materials and equipment that you would use on a normal scaffolding shrink wrapping project. A typical ‘start up kit’ will consist a shrink wrapping heat gun(s), scaffold wrap film, patch tape, clips and leather welding gauntlets. Although a scaffold wrap supplier will be able to provide you with the materials and equipment, you will need to provide a 13Kg cylinder of propane gas for each heat gun as scaffold wrap suppliers generally do not supply this. WHAT TOPICS MIGHT BE COVERED IN A SCAFFOLD WRAP TRAINING SESSION? Scaffold shrink wrap training is generally a practical activity and does not require a classroom. Generally a shrink wrapping training course should at least include the following elements; SHRINK WRAPPING THEORY: Equipment (Heat gun) familiarisation – Pre start checks. Connecting and disconnecting the gun, hose and regulator. Safe use of propane gas and handling of cylinders. Materials familiarisation – shrink wrap, patch tape, clips •Personal safety – PPE, safe use of heat gun and fire prevention on site •Shrink wrapping scaffold structures – weather conditions, setting up the structure, wrapping sides, wrapping temporary roofs. SHRINK WRAPPING PRACTICAL: Welding & Shrinking Scaffolding Shrink Wrap •Repairing holes by patching / tapingFor the practical part of the training the shrink wrap trainer should demonstrate each skill and then allow each person time to practice. HOW MUCH DOES SCAFFOLD SHRINK WRAP TRAINING COST? The cost of scaffold shrink wrap training sessions has been coming down in recent years and sometimes you may be able to persuade a supplier to train your team for free if they think you will be purchasing large quantities of shrink wrapping supplies in the future! However, try to bear in mind that free training may be quite basic without certification and that if a trainer has lots of relevant shrink wrapping experience built up over many years ‘on the tools’ then they are a valuable pool of knowledge that will be enabling your team to carry oout profitable new service for your customers. CAN I GET A CERTIFICATE? A scaffold shrink wrapping certificate of competency will provide evidence to your customers that your team are able to safely carrying out scaffold shrink wrapping to the required standard. Ignore any claims by shrink wrap suppliers who claim to be endorsed by the CITB or similiar as there are no official ‘tickets’ for scaffold shrink wrapping as a construction skill. Ask your supplier to provide details and examples of the assessment criteria and keep the completed assessment forms for each trainee documents along with the certificates. Do they provide a multiple choice exam to test shrink wrapping knowledge? If so, ask for the completed papers to provide a good audit trail and to show you have fulfilled your health and safety obligations to the best of your ability. I’VE BEEN TRAINED – NOW WHAT? After carrying out many scaffold wrap training sessions over the years for scaffolding companies and contractors our tips woud be 1) Only train a team who want to learn shrink wrapping! 2) Start small – try not to carry out a huge job immediately after training but allow the team to build up their confidence gradually. 3) Remember the weather – you can have the right shrink wrap materials and a well trained team but you need dry and light wind conditions to get the best results.
What is Scaffold Sheeting Strength at 'Yield' (And Why You Should Care)
I have to admit, different brands of scaffold sheeting, including brands of shrink wrap scaffold sheeting look pretty similar at the point you buy them. It is only when you start to use sheeting that you discover just how well it welds or shrinks and only after some weeks or months how well it will withstand bad weather. However, by that time you are shrink wrapping a scaffolding, it is normally too late to do much about it. For that reason, I always urge scaffolders and contractors who are looking to buy scaffold sheeting to look beyond the claims materials suppliers and to check out the specifications and performance data for competing scaffold wrap suppliers for themselves to determine scaffold sheeting strength. However, that is often easier said than done. Once you have obtained the data sheet for a scaffold shrink wrap film, which numbers should you be looking at? A common point of comparison for determining scaffold sheeting strength is the overall tensile strength of a shrink wrap film. Tensile strength is a good measure of the strength of a shrink wrap film and is important for point loading performance, such as where the shrink wrap film is covering a sharp scaffold fitting. However, in my opinion, one of the most important yet overlooked points of comparison between scaffold wrap film is tensile strength at yield. Tensile Strength at Yield Tensile strength at yield relates to the strength of the shrink wrap film but with a focus on elasticity – i.e. the ability of the film to return to it’s original form when hit by a force such as the wind. You may notice that scaffold sheeting with poor elasticity may sag after time, even if they at first seem ‘drum tight’ when initially installed. This is due to poor tensile strength at yield. In a similar way, traditional style scaffold sheeting is tied to the scaffolding using elasticated bungees. In many cases it is the bungee ties that experience wind loadings which stretch them past the ‘point of no return’. They then become saggy and allow the sheeting to flap and even detach if the wind is strong enough. The tensile strength at beak for Rhino Verisafe® ia 20,000 kN / m2. The tensile strength at yield is 13,700 kn / m2. Testing Shrink Wrap Yourself! Rather than relying on data sheets and specifications, it is quite easy to get an idea of the a shrink wrap film’s tensile strength at yield by testing the film yourself! If you can ask a couple of suppliers to send you just a small sample, it will give you a really good idea of how one shrink wrap film is going to withstand wind loadings when compared with another. Build a 1-2 metre square frame from scaffolding which is supported 40-50cm from the ground. Cover the square with shrink wrap scaffold sheeting as normal by welding and heat shrinking drum tight. Then load the shrink wrap sheeting. In the image above, SCA Protect used bags of sand up to 800Kg were used which caused the Verisafe® shrink wrap to deflect by around 20cm. Finally, remove the load and the shrink wrap should return to it’s original ‘drum tight’ form. Why Tensile Strength at Yield is important for scaffold sheeting? All scaffolders and contractors are looking for a ‘fit and forget’ scaffold sheeting. If shrink wrap sheeting has poor tensile strength at yield it will soon begin to sag and lose the signature ‘drum tight’ finish that shrink to fit sheeting is known for. At this point it will begin to flap and ultimately self destruct and detach from the scaffolding. Most scaffold sheeting has a tensile strength at break that is able to withstand high wind loads. However, in ‘real world’ scenarios it is the ability to have an elasticity to the scaffold sheeting that can withstand wind loads over a period of time and remain ‘drum tight’ that is perhaps even more important than it’s ultimate strength. I hope you found this article useful, if so please share! If you need help and advice with any aspect of using shrink wrap film for scaffolding encapsulation andcontainment call myself or my team on 01477 532222. Alternatively drop us a line to info@rhinoshrinkwrap.com.
3 Tips To Minimise Your Scaffold Shrink Wrapping Cost
Helping scaffolders and contractors minimise scaffold shrink wrapping cost is something I work to achieve through the improvement of training and education resources which we freely publish for anyone to use (whether a customer of ours or not). This article is written for those scaffolders and contractors who buy scaffold shrink wrap materials to install using your own ‘in house’ labour force (as opposed to sub contracting the work to a specialist shrink wrap installation company). Installing Shrink Wrapping for Scaffolding – How To Reduce Cost Installing traditional style scaffold sheeting such as Monarflex is pretty straightforward. As every roll is typically supplied to fit a single lift of scaffolding and simply overlaps the sheeting installed on the lifts above and below, the installer simply works around the scaffolding, bungee tying the sheeting to the scaffolding until the entire area is covered. The benefit (and sometimes the challenge) of using a shrink to fit sheeting for scaffolding is that it can be installed in a variety of ways depending on what is required by the project. For example, it can be installed in different drop lengths, it can be fitted vertically or horizontally or even incorporating a temporary roof. This means that planning and preparation is really important to complete a shrink wrap sheeting job efficiently and with the minimum of cost. Planning One of the most important way to reduce the cost of scaffold shrink wrapping is to plan ahead to get the most coverage out of every roll of shrink wrap with the minimum of off cuts. The first stage of planning the shrink wrap installation takes place in the office. Ideally you will be able to look at the scaffold drawings and calculate the total are of sheeting required. Although a 7m x 15m roll of shrink wrap will cover a theoretical 105 square metres we normally advise that you divide the area to be shrink wrapped by 90 square meters, to allow for overlaps and joins, in order to calculate the total number of rolls that you are going to need. Recently I worked alongside one of our installation team supervisors, Adam. We were encapsulating a small scaffolding around a large yacht to enable temperature and dust control during the painting of the yacht’s hull. I was impressed with how Adam was constantly planning ahead in order to get the most from each and every roll of shrink wrap. The old adage measure twice and cut once seems to apply to scaffold shrink wrapping. Particularly when encapsulating smaller areas of scaffolding, perhaps just 1-2 lifts, rather than hang the entire roll of shrink wrap and then trim off the excess, sometimes it was much easier to unroll the scaffold sheeting at ground level, measure, cut and carry the sections of sheeting ready cut into position. Where the scaffolding was an awkward shape, Adam completed the encapsulation of the main scaffolding and then filled any ‘gaps’ with offcuts from elsewhere. The result was that despite the entire area of scaffolding being nearly 500 square metres, the job required just 5 rolls of shrink wrap with virtually zero waste. Use shrink wrap materials efficiently Kris Martin, Installation Manager for Rhino shrink wrap adds; “It might seem like a trivial thing but just taking one roll of shrink wrap patch tape at a time from a box and not taking another can save significant costs on larger jobs. I have seen it many times where installers keep on taking a roll, putting it down and taking another and before you know it, a whole box has been used. In the same way, using a gas bottle until it is completely empty sounds like a small thing but it is surprising how many installers don’t do this and the costs do mount up over time.” Don’t tape every weld I have explored the question of taping welds previously. However, by using a decent quality shrink wrap film you should not have to tape any welds (apart from when shrink wrapping a temporary roof). Choose the right weather conditions If you try and attempt hanging and shrinking sheet in wet & windy weather conditions you can and up wasting sheet. For example, if you leave a sheet hanging and it has not been heat shrunk ‘drum tight’ it might flap and chafe all night. When you come to weld / join it to another sheet in the morning, it may be damaged beyond practical use. Summary In final analysis reducing the costs of scaffold shrink wrapping comes down to using a good quality shrink wrap film and having the correct shrink wrap training. It is particularly important that when you get training for the installation of shrink wrap sheeting it is not just for the basic skills, but that the training also includes some training / support on a live job so that your team learn how to deal with real life problems. In the last year, we have sent up to two of our installation team supervisors to work alongside customer teams on their first job and the results have been much better than letting them go it alone immediately. Once again, I hope you found this article useful and if you did, please share it! If you need any help or advice connected with scaffold shrink wrapping, call me or my team on 01477 532222 or drop us a line at info@rhinoshrinkwrap.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
Joining Shrink Wrap? Stop Taping Welds!
In addition, overlaps between sheets of shrink film are heat welded together which creates a ‘continuously bonded skin’ around a scaffolding structure. Sealed joints between sheets makes scaffold shrink wrapping useful for projects that require a high level of environmental containment. Because of the importance of joints when encapsulating a scaffolding with shrink wrap sheeting, I am often askedby scaffolders and shrink wrap installers about whether they should use shrink wrap repair tape, often called ‘patch tape’ to tape along every edge of the shrink wrap sheeting where it has been joined (heat welded) to another sheet. The simple answer is, no! If you are taping along the edge of the sheet then you are probably wasting both time and money. To show how using patch tape can really make a difference to your costs of encapsulating scaffolding consider the following example; A scaffolding project that is 12 metres high by 50 metres long would typically be shrink wrapped using two ‘drops’ of shrink wrap sheeting, (6m drop plus 6m drop), with an additional vertical join at least every every 15 metres. Shrink wrap repair tape / patch tape is normally supplied on a 100mm wide roll with a roll length of 33 metres, (although patch tape roll lengths of up to 55 metres are sometimes available.) To tape every horizontal and vertical weld would require at least 250 metres of patch tape which even on this small area is equivalent to nearly 8 rolls of patch tape or a cost of around £80.00, (and this doesn’t include the cost of labour needed to tape all those welds either!) Why do some shrink wrap installers tape shrink wrap joints? Poor quality shrink wrapping sheeting Low quality shrink wrap sheeting can have a major affect on the strength of heat welded joints. Typically, when first welded the shrink wrap can look as though it has been joined properly. However, after some time, the welded joint begins to separate and is easily peeled apart by hand. By taping the weld, the installer hopes to slow or stop the weld peeling part. My advice is to choose a supplier who can consistently supply a scaffold shrink wrap that when welded / joined – remains bonded with a joint strength greater than the original material. If the shrink wrap remain welded then it will require no additional reinforcement using adhesive tape. In my experience the price of genuine scaffold shrink wrap film is not much more than some of the cheap imitations, and when you factor in that you will not require to buy as much patch tape, using a high quality scaffold wrap might actually work out as costing less than the low quality ‘packaging’ grade shrink wraps. Lack of scaffold wrap training No matter what shrink film you use, it is important to understand how to use the hot air gun properly to create a robust weld. Welding involves heating two pieces of shrink wrap film close to their melt point using a hand held shrink wrapping gun. When this point is reached, normally noticeable by a smooth and glossy appearance, (and possible slight colour change), to the shrink wrap material, the operator presses the two pieces of shrink wrap film together and after a few seconds, the shrink wrap cools and is bonded. A welded joint between two pieces of shrink wrap film should be smooth, with as few wrinkles or air bubbles as possible. However, if the operative does not use sufficient heat or heats the plastic for too short a period, the melt point will not be reached and a proper bond will not be achieved. Trying to weld / join scaffold sheeting that is very wet or dirty may also create a join that is on insufficient strength. If you feel you need some scaffold shrink wrapping training, ask your supplier for help or guidance. They may even be able to send out an experienced scaffold wrap installer to get you on track! Temporary Roofs – The Exception! There is one important exception to the ‘no taping’ rule and that is where shrink wrap sheeting is being used as a temporary roof covering. Because water can often find it’s way through the smallest of gaps we advise that installers tape along the edge of all joints. The technique recommended by our own installation team is to start the roll of tape at one end of the weld. As the heat gun is used to weld the sheets together, the tape is unwound, bit by bit, in one continuous strip along the edge of the welded joint. The advantage of taping the weld as you go is that when the shrink wrap plastic is still warm, the tape will stick to and mould to the shrink wrap sheeting. This is particularly important wen the shrink wrapping on low temperatures. Summary Taping along every join between sheets of scaffold shrink wrap used to be essential for every project. As the quality of shrink wrap materials have improved, this is no longer necessary. You should only need to tape welds if you are using poor quality material or your welding skills need a little improvement. You will still need shrink wrap tape to make small repairs to the sheeting or to seal around locations where a scaffold tube is sticking through the sheet but you could be wasting money by taping along every horizontal and vertical join. Thanks for reading! As always, if you liked this article, please share. If you need any help or advice with any aspect of using shrink wrap sheeting for temporary weather protection or environmental containment get in touch with myself and my team; info@rhinoshrinkwrap.com or +44 (0)1477 532222.
3 Common Scaffold Shrink Wrap Problems (And How To Fix Them)
listening white shrink wrap as far as the eye can see, straight and uniform welded joints, not a wrinkle in site, all under a cloudless blue sky and installed in minutes. If you read the websites of most scaffold shrink wrap suppliers, you would be forgiven for thinking that scaffold shrink wrapping was a perfect solution to every temporary sheeting problem. However, when reality does not match up to those perfect photos and accompanying slick ‘sales patter’, new customers can end up disillusioned with shrink wrapping. Here then are the 3 most common scaffold shrink wrap problems and how you can solve them. 1. Welds coming apart The scenario goes like this; you are on a construction site shrink wrapping a scaffolding and you have welded the shrink wrap around a scaffold tube to secure the sheeting in place. All looks good. However, a few hours later you start to notice the welded joint is peeling apart and you can easily put your hand between the two pieces of shrink wrap film and seperate them apart further. This is a potentially serious problem because it is the welded joints that secure the temporary shrink wrap sheeting to the scaffolding structure so without these joints, the shrink wrap is going to lose it’s tension, start to flap and then potentially blow off if the winds are strong enough. Possible reasons for shrink wrap sheeting welds coming apart: 1. User Error: To get a strong joint or ‘weld’ between two pieces of shrink wrap film it is important to heat both pieces of film with the heat gun sufficiently, so that each piece of shrink wrap reaches it’s ‘melt point’. At this point, when the two pieces of film are pressed together (using leather welding gloves) they should be completely bonded. To help with this, scaffold shrink wrap installers try and get the hot air gun right between the two pieces of shrinkwrap, pressing the wrap together, and then immediately heating the joined area again from the outside. Inexperienced scaffold wrap installers may not give the weld enough heat or they may allow the joint to get wet or very dirty before attempting to heat weld it. Solution: Always make sure the shrink wrap is clean, dry and overlapped by 30-40cm before heat welding together. When making a shrink wrap weld try and minimise any wrinkles and air bubbles inside the weld because in a wrinkled and bubbled area, the wrap will not be bonded properly and this will make the joint significantly weaker. 2. Technical problem with the shrink wrap film: It could also be that you are not using a shrink wrap film with the correct specification for scaffold shrink wrapping. Shrink wrap film is generally described as a low density polyethylene film (LDPE). However, in reality there will be high density polythylene (HDPE) and medium density polyethylene added to the mix (MDPE). Why? The reason MDPE and HDPE is added to shrink wrap film is to make the production process easier. To make shrink wrap film, it is extruded from a circular ‘die’ and blown into a large bubble. Because of the size of the shrink wrap film used for scaffold wrapping (from 7m wide to 12m wide) the bubble needs to have a diameter of 7m or 12m and a bubble of this size made purely from LDPE is in danger of collapsing. In addition, MDPE and HDPE is added to speed up the processing of shrink wrap film through the extruder. Whilst this is great for the shrink wrap manufacturer (more speed = more rolls of shrink wrap film manufactured) it is not great for the shrink wrap installer because MDPE & HDPE has a much higher melt point than LDPE. This means that the shrink wrap installer may struggle to get enough heat into the polythene film to weld it together properly. When this happens, the shrink wrap installer ends up having to use shrink wrap patch tape to tape along the top of every weld. Before long, what with return visits to make repairs to the shrink wrap sheeting, and all the extra patch tape used, that cheap roll of shrink wrap film, might not be such good value after all… Solution: Ask your shrink wrap supplier for a technical datasheet. Ask them if they know what % of HDPE and MDPE is added to their shrink wrap film . Ask them to supply you some film from current stock and make a quick test yourself. 2. Holes appearing in the shrink wrap film A common problem can be seen during the heat shrinking process. Whilst you are passing the hot air from the propane shrink wrap gun over the film to shrink the film ‘drum tight’, (like spray painting), tiny holes appear and then grow larger as the shrinking of the film pulls them apart. Possible reasons for holes appearing during the heat shrinking of scaffold shrink wrap film: 1. User error: If a roll of scaffold shrink wrap film is dragged along the ground, repeatedly dropped prior to installation, or snagged on protruding scaffold fittings as the sheeting was pulled over the scaffolding, the damage can appear as tiny holes which get larger as the shrink film us shrunk tight. Solution: Ask your supplier to ensure your rolls are supplied individually wrapped so that they are protected until the time comes to install them. Always handle new rolls of scaffold wrap carefully and be carefull of snagging until the shrink wrap sheet has been clipped and heat welded into position. 2. Technical problem with the shrink wrap film: In addition, if the shrink wrap film has not been manufactured and specified for scaffold shrink wrapping it may not have the correct additives. Solution: Get a datasheet from your supplier. Ask them to supply you with a free sample of shrink wrap from current stock and test it yourself. 3. Thin patches visible in scaffold wrap after heat shrinking After completing the scaffold sheeting heat shrink process you may notice thinner or transparent areas in the white film. This is most visible from the inside when the light is shining through the shrink wrap from the outside. Possible reasons for thin areas in temporary shrink wrap scaffold sheeting: 1. User error: To shrink the scaffold sheeting the installer must pass the hot air generated from the shrink wrap heat tool, over the scaffold wrap film in a consistent way. If you heat an area excessively then the plastic wrap will become thin and even eventually create a hole. Solution: Holding the hot air gun 30-40cm away from the sheeting, pass the heat consistently so that the whole sheet is consistently heated. Make sure the weather conditions are appropriate. 2. Technical problem with the shrink wrap film: When discussing shrink wrap welds above we touched on the manufacturing process which involves extruding a ‘bubble’ of shrink wrap film. The control of the thickness of this bubble is critical. Often, shrink wrap film for scaffold wrapping may be manufactured by companies who mostly make plastic films for agricultural use and which generally does not require sophisticated manufacturing processes. Solution: The control of the shrink wrap films thickness must be computer controlled. Ask your scaffold shrink wrap supplier for a datasheet or specification for the shrink wrap they are supplying. Ideally, you need to look for ‘average thickness’ or ‘spot thickness’ of the film with a +/- variation of 10% or less. In this post we have looked at the 3 most common scaffold shrink wrap problems and explored some ways to solve them. If you would like to learn more about the scaffold shrink wrap installation process download our free guide; How To Shrink Wrap Scaffolding.
Scaffold Shrink Wrapping - What Materials Will You Need?
If you are considering gaining a competitive edge by offering shrink wrap sheeting to your customers, this 5 item check list explains what materials and equipment is involved and gives you some tips on how to get the best deal from your supplier. 1. Scaffold Wrap Film Shrink wrap film can be used to cover sides and/or the roof of a scaffolding structure to provide robust weather protection & environmental containment. Scaffolding shrinkwrap is a low density polyethylene film (LDPE), generally supplied as a 7m wide x 15m long roll. Although each roll will cover 105 square metres, because of overlaps and offcuts, I recommend that you allow for 90 square metres / roll, when calculating how many rolls of shrink wrap film are going to be required for your project. 300 microns is a typical film thickness. Thinner films, though suitable for internal scaffolding use, may be torn easily when fitting, whilst thicker films become heavy and difficult to weld/join properly. Choose a film that has been developed and tested for shrink wrapping scaffolds. Although different shrink wrap films can appear quite similiar, to get the best results you need a film that will weld and shrink even in tough weather conditions. Most construction sites will insist that the scaffold wrap materials you use are flame retardant. There are two common flame retardant standards in the UK that you need to be aware of. The EN13501 is the basic level that a flame retardant scaffold wrap film must achieve and is widely recogised. However, a shrink-wrap film that meets the more extensive LPS1207 and LPS1215 standards issued by the BRE's Loss Prevention Certification Board may be required on some projects. Check before ordering. Whichever you use, ask your supplier to send you their flame retardant certification and check that it is up to date. Shrink wrap sheeting is not re-usable. However, once it is cut from the scaffolding, (it does not actually weld/stick to the scaffold tubes themselves), it can be bundled and collected for recycling. Buyers Tip Although a supplier will supply you rolls in individual quantity, there will probably be a discount at the 'pallet quantity', which for a 7 x 15m roll will be equivalent to 30 rolls or 1 ton. If you need to buy just 1 or 2 rolls ask your supplier if they can send you the rolls of shrink wrap film using a courier as this can work out cheaper than shipping an entire pallet. 2. Shrink Wrapping Heat Gun The hot air gun is used for 'welding' the shrink wrap sheeting around the scaffold tube and of course heat shrinking the scaffold wrap 'drum tight'. A powerful tool! Typically 40-72kW or 136,000 to 245,000 btu/h. Powered by propane gas, (normally a red cylinder). I find a 13 Kg gas cylinder is generally easiest to use and move around a site. A new shrink wrapping heat gun is generally supplied complete and ready to use with a regulator and 8-10m long hose. Try and choose a hot air gun that is supplied in a hard plastic carry case to prevent damage when being transported to and from jobs. You may find some hot air guns look like 'roofing torches' used for heating bitumen etc. Whilst these can also be used for shrink wrapping my main concern with these is that the gun produces a constant flame, even if the operator should drop the tool. I prefer hot air guns that incorporate a 'dead mans handle' - if an operator drops the hot air gun and/or releases the trigger, the gun stops and there is no flame whatsoever. A number of manufacturers produce heat guns for shrink wrapping pallets and these are generally quite suitable for shrink wrapping scaffolding. Well known manufacturers are Ripack (France), Shrinkfast (USA), Shrinkit (UK) and Guilbert Express (France). Although a single hot air gun is enough to get started and carry out small shrink wrap jobs of up to 150 square metres, you will need at least two hot air guns to get the shrink wrap job completed in the most efficient way. Buyers Tip Don't forget your leather shrink wrapping gloves, sometimes called 'welders gauntlets'.It is is essential you wear welding gloves during the shrink wrap welding - the shrink wrap film can get quite hot! See if you can get your supplier to throw a pair in for free. 3. Shrink Wrapping Clips A re-usable metal clip that is used to temporarily hold sections of shrink wrap sheeting in place prior to heat welding. Not 100% essential, patch tape can also be used to hold the shrink wrap film in position prior to heat welding, but they do considerably speed up a shrink wrapping installation work and can work out more cost effective in the long term. Generally supplied as a box of 100 shrink wrapping clips. Clips can be removed as soon as the shrink wrap sheet is welded into position. If you are careful to collect the clips afterwards, one box should last a long time! 4. Shrink Wrapping Tape Shrink Wrapping Tape is used to repair small holes, tape welds and seal around any protrusions A thick white polythylene tape designed to 'blend in' with the shrink wrap sheeting. Normally supplied as a 100mm wide tape on rolls that are 33 metres long. A shrink wrap patch tape should be easy to tear by hand. A 'pinked' edge to both edges of the tape (a zigzag cut during the manufacturing process) can make tearing the tape by hand a little easier. Buyers Tip Most suppliers will supply you patch tape as individual rolls. However, there will normally be a discount for buying tape as a box of 12 rolls. Ask your supplier. If you use a good quality shrink wrap film you should not have to tape along the lines of any welds and this can save a lot of unnecessary extra costs. 5. Training Whilst scaffold shrink wrapping is a straightforward concept, most find some kind of shrink wrap installation training useful, to get the benefit of learning from someone elses experiences and to get certification that they can give to customers to prove they are competent. Try and look for a training session that combines a theory and practical training with some on site support for your first job. In my experience, scaffolders who have additional on site support for the first one or two jobs they are undertaking are more likely to get the results their customers are looking for and carry on to become experienced shrink wrap installers. I think the best training is carried out by those who have first hand experience of what can and cannot be achieved with the shrink wrap project. Make sure you find about your trainers experience and qualifications. Buyers Tip The costs of shrink wrap training sessions have been falling steadily over the last few years so negotiate hard to get a good deal for your company. After all, once you are trained, your supplier should benefit from shrink wrap material sales in the long term. The information here is an introduction to the materials and equipment required for shrink wrapping scaffolding structures and how to get the best deal from your supplier. To find out more, contact our friendly team today!