How to Wrap a Pallet With Ventilated Stretch Film

Ventilated film is applied the same way as any stretch film. What changes is that you are setting tension on a web that also carries thirteen perforations per row, so the corner behaviour is worth watching more closely than usual.

Before You Start

• Confirm the core diameter matches your mandrel.
• Confirm whether you are running a prestretchable grade, which your machine elongates, or a prestretched grade, which it only applies.
• Set the prestretch below the elongation at break of the film, never at it.

The Sequence

1. Load the roll. Fit the roll so the web runs from the top and the perforation rows sit horizontally across the pallet face. Check the core seats fully on the mandrel.
2. Anchor at the base. Attach the film to a corner of the pallet base, not to the goods. Two full base wraps tie the load to the pallet, which is what stops a load leaning later.
3. Climb with overlap. Wrap upward with roughly fifty percent overlap so every part of the load face carries two layers. Watch the corners rather than the flat faces.
4. Reverse down. Come back down the load to double the coverage and even out the tension across the height.
5. Finish the top. Two wraps at the top edge for a stable load. Carry the film over the top corners if the pallet will be handled by clamp truck.
6. Cut and tuck. Cut the web and tuck the tail into a lower layer. A loose tail catches on conveyor rollers and unwinds the top of the wrap.
7. Test before releasing. Do a fork lift turn on the first pallet of a new batch and inspect the corners. Corners show a tension problem before the flat faces do.

Setting Prestretch On A Prestretchable Film

Start below the film capability and raise the setting in steps, wrapping a pallet at each one. Watch the corners. When the web starts to neck in sharply or break at a corner you have passed what the load geometry allows, and the correct setting is one step back from there.

For JMSH01 the prestretch is up to 230 percent and elongation at break is 250 percent. The gap between those two numbers is your working margin, and it should not be spent.

Applying A Prestretched Film

JMSH02 arrives already elongated at 50 percent with an elongation at break of 55 percent. There is very little left to pull, so the wrapper should apply with light, steady tension. If the load will not hold at that tension, it needs a heavier grade or netting rather than more force on an 8 micron web.

Hand Wrapping

Use a manual roll. At 440 m and 1.37 kg the prestretched grade is light enough to control through a shift. Keep the roll at a constant height as you walk, lean back slightly to hold tension, and do not try to generate tension by pulling with your arms, which produces uneven wraps.