Truxes Company has been manufacturing Hot Melt Adhesives since 1976. We also provide consulting and special formulating for unique applications. All of the formulas we produce are FDA grade and are manufactured here in Oswego, IL, approximately fifty miles Southwest of Chicago.
We produce our hot melt adhesives in brickettes for a reason. Traditionally, after mixing, hot melts are poured onto cooling belts in long narrow strips, then chopped into small slats or pillows. Or dropped into a cooling liquid to form small pellets. These are the most cost effective methods to mass-produce hot melts.
Unfortunately, these small forms do not work well with large, high-usage tanks that are often seen in filter pleating and foaming applications. The problem is usually this: once a 100-400 pound capacity tank is filled with small slats, pillows or pellets, most heating elements start to melt from the outside in. This is fine at first, but as the molten hot melt is used up a rather large “ball” of unmelted adhesive is formed in the tank. Once this happens the tank pump cannot receive molten material. This makes for erratic application of the hot melt onto the media. In pleating operations, the first indication of this is the pleats per inch changing.
At this time adhesive application starts skipping and stringing, and the filter packs are no longer usable. You lose production, media and hot melt. And now you have to wait for the equipment to reach operational temperatures again.
Some foaming systems have a re-circulating adhesive feature, which helps, but doesn’t completely eliminate the problem. With our brickettes, this situation will not happen. When the tank is filled, the blocks allow air pockets throughout the entire tank. The heat is evenly distributed, and no unmelted ball is formed. Once at operational temperature, the system is maintained and there is no stoppage. This provides consistent production and additional savings in not only media, but also adhesive usage.