Steel Coil Wrapping and Packing: Technology and Best Practices

Executive summary

A steel coil packing line takes strip coils from the slitter, turns them to the wrapping position, wraps them through the eye and sends them on to stacking. Each coil gets the same tape tension and overlap, so edges and bore are sealed against moisture and handling damage. This page covers the stations, the line specs and how to work out ring turns per coil.

A hydraulic tilter lays each strip coil onto the roller conveyor, which carries it into an eye-through wrapping ring. The coil leaves fully covered and moves on powered rollers to the next station.

Table of Contents

• Why coils fail in transit
• How the packing line works
• Line specs
• Ring turns per coil
• Selection checklist
• Safety
• Engineering FAQ
• Next step
• Related reading
• Sources

Why coils fail in transit

Slit strip coils have sharp edges and a bare bore. Moisture enters at the edges and rust follows, and loose wraps open up when the coil is lifted. Uneven hand wrapping leaves thin spots. A packing line wraps every coil at the same tension and overlap, and moves it without crane lifts between stations.

How the packing line works

1. Collect: coils from the slitter go onto the turnstile.
2. Down-end: the down-ender separates a coil, picks it from the turnstile and lays it on the roller table. A coil falling protection device holds it during the move.
3. Convey: the roller conveyor feeds the coil into the ring.
4. Strap: where the order calls for straps, radial straps through the eye go on first so the laps stay tight.
5. Wrap: the ring passes film or paper tape through the coil eye while the rollers turn the coil.
6. Stack: the gantry stacker lifts packed coils from the conveyor onto pallets.

The PLC and central HMI run the whole line, and the inverters set ring speed and roller speed.

Line specs

Coil OD, ID, width and weight range for each machine are confirmed at quote.

Ring turns per coil

Mean diameter = (OD + ID) ÷ 2. Ring turns per coil revolution = π × mean diameter ÷ (tape width × (1 − overlap)). For a coil of OD 1,200 mm and ID 500 mm, the mean diameter is 850 mm and its circumference is about 3.14 × 850 = 2,670 mm. With 100 mm tape at 50% overlap, each turn advances 50 mm: 2,670 ÷ 50 = 53.4, rounded up to 54 ring turns so the last lap closes the surface (example only). More overlap or narrower tape means more turns and a longer cycle.

Selection checklist

1. Coil OD, ID, width and weight?
2. Coils per hour from the slitter?
3. How many turnstile arms does your slitter buffer need?
4. Film, paper or both?
5. Straps per coil?
6. Pallet pattern for stacking?

Safety

We design the line to EN ISO 12100:2010 for risk assessment, EN 415-10 for packaging machine safety and EN 60204-1 for electrical equipment, with control safety to ISO 13849. The tilter, the ring and moving coils are the main hazards. The line uses E-stops and interlocks, with light curtains as an option.

Engineering FAQ

Q: How heavy can the turnstile load be? A: Up to 60 t across the arms, with arms up to 2,000 mm long.

Q: Can it handle different coil widths? A: Yes; the down-ender’s hydraulic lifting nose adjusts to width.

Q: How is overlap set? A: By the inverter ratio of ring speed to roller speed.

Q: Can the line stack coils on pallets? A: Yes, the gantry stacker places packed coils on pallets one by one.

Next step

1. Send your coil sizes, weights and slitter output to info@fhopepack.com.
2. We lay out the turnstile, down-ender, wrapper and stacker.
3. We reply within 24 hours with a proposal and quotation.

Related reading

• Automatic coil packaging line (product)
• Automatic coil packing machine (video)
• Steel coil wrapping machine (video)

Sources

• FHOPE product page: automatic coil packaging line
• EN ISO 12100:2010; EN 415-10; EN 60204-1; ISO 13849
• The coil packing line shown above

Last reviewed: 2026-10-20