There are certain things that set some new plastics machines above the rest. Two things that make a difference to your maintenance team are how easy it is to change the knives and how quickly they can change the knives.
Granulators that use a knife setting jig can cut down on the amount of time that you need to change out the knives and using a blades that bolt into a plate instead of into the rotor can extend the life of the machine. If the blades are bolted into the rotor over time the bolt holes can become stripped. This requires taps to placed in the rotor and eventually can contribute the need for an entirely new rotor. This can leave the granulator you need idle while the repairs are completed. By using knives that aren't bolted directly into the rotor and are sandwiched to the rotor by a blade holder, the knife or holder are the only things that would commonly need to be replaced. The rotor - at substantially more cost- is protected.
Additionally, if the blade depth can be set outside of the machine, it can be a time saver. If you have a spare set of knives, you can gap them correctly and have them waiting to be changed. Then take the old blades out to be sharpened, gap when they return and wait for the next change. This makes changing granulator blades a simple and efficient process.
Virtus granulators have both of the time and money saving options on many of their granulators. Arlington Plastics Machinery represents the full line of Virtus Size Reduction Equipment.