Boucherie Technology for the Newest Trends in Toothbrush Manufacturing

Anchorless toothbrushes: a choice of technologies with PTt 2.0, AFT and AVT

Since the introduction of the revolutionary PTt technology at the Interbrush show in 2016, the toothbrush industry has shown a massive interest. Over those recent years, many machines were built and based on the accumulated experience built-up over the last years, Boucherie has now re- engineered the PTt machine into the PTt 2.0 machine.

The product design advantages offered by PTt technology are very interesting:

Because there are no head plates and no anchors, the PTt technology allows a very narrow space between the tufts and the edge of the head as well as reduced investments.
TPE (ìrubberî) cleaning elements between the tufts, on the outside or on the back of the head (tongue cleaner), are possible.
The widest range of handle materials can be used, including transparent materials.
Angled tufts are possible, in length-, width or a combined direction.
The toothbrush head can be very thin, typically at least one millimeter thinner than a conventional toothbrush, which makes for a very ergonomic toothbrush head.
The tuft topography can be complex, with extreme length differences, without any additional complexity or cost. There are no hard to maintain profiled trimming devices, there are no spreading systems.
Tapered filaments can be processed for an extremely soft brushing experience.

The AVT range of machines, built by V-Air, uses a simple yet efficient vacuum picking technology that allows to make high-quality anchorless brushes in a very compact machine. The FRM machine is an off-line end-rounding machine that gives a high-quality finish to the filaments, after which they are introduced into the tufting machine itself. AVT machines manufacture up to 30 brushes per minute, and the output is independent of the number of tufts. The AVT-E machine will also weld the manufactured head plates into an electric toothbrush style handle, completely automatically and all in line.

A practical approach to recyclable toothbrushes

In recent years, there has been a trend for reduced plastics in our consumer products and for more ecological toothbrushes.

The Hepta-FM/R is a compact toothbrush production line that makes high-quality toothbrushes without using metal wire: fixing the tufts is done by means of an innovative and patented technology that works with plastic anchor plates, and gives a tuft retention that is very similar to conventional tufting with metal anchors. This will allow to make brushes that are made in one material, and the example shown at the show is a brush with handle, filaments and anchor plate all made from polyester. This makes into an affordable, attractive yet fully recyclable brush, manufactured by means of easy to use and high-speed machinery and with readily available and affordable materials.

Conventional anchor technology: highest production Hepta-2-FM lines

With the introduction of the Hepta-2-FM, Boucherie has taken another step ahead of the competition when it comes to concentrating high production on very limited floorspace: the machine is barely bigger than a compact single header line, yet it has a capacity of up to 2400 tufts per minute and will produce up to 70 brushes per minute.

The Hepta-2-FM is a high-speed toothbrush production line with two filling tools, combining tufting and finishing in one machine. As a standard it is equipped with one automatic handle feeder and triple fiber boxes. After filling, the toothbrushes are automatically trimmed, end-rounded and cleaned before they leave the machine. The Boucherie end-rounding technology ensures consistently rounded filament tips with a smooth and glossy finish, and the new finishing machine concept used in the Hepta-FM, Hepta- FM/L and Hepta-2-FM machines will allow a random mix of trimming- and end-rounding units, each of them with their own drive motor, so that a precise adjustments of the settings of each unit is possible to optimize product quality.

Interdental brushes: IDM

IDM is a mass production machine for interdental, medical and mascara brushes, according to the carrousel principle. All operations are done in the same clamp for a superior product quality. A new fibre feeding system has been developed that will make the fibre spreading much easier and much less difficult to adjust.

The IDM machine can produce short brush heads as well as brushes with a long twisted stem with a minimum of waste of metal wire. It is prepared for easy integration with assembly and packaging systems. The clamping chucks in a high-tech material ensure a reduced wear of parts while an inspection camera ensures a perfect and consistent brush quality.

Aeola and NM: revolutionary household brush manufacturing technology from Boucherie

With the Aeola and NM machines, Boucherie has developed totally different machine concepts for household and personal-care brush manufacturing: compact, simple and extremely efficient. Traditional double header machines of today take up lots of floor space, and often run at less than their full potential because operators can’t keep up. An extremely fast running single tool machine is more compact, will run at a higher efficiency and will be much simpler to maintain.

Both machines use Boucherie’s most innovative technology, which consists of a very high tufting speed of a single filling tool that runs continuously, with no stop between consecutive products. This allows for a simpler, more compact machine that has the output of the contemporary more expensive and complex double header machines.

The filling tool is of a completely new and simple design, with extremely few parts, derived from the most recent toothbrush technology. There is no housing and there is no sliding of the tool because the main movements are bolted directly to sturdy levers, eliminating any need for lubrication. The extremely rigid construction and smart design of the drive systems allows very high tufting speeds.

The Aeola is laid out as a compact carrousel with very good accessibility for maintenance and change-over. Optional electronic trimming, flagging and beating are arranged around the machine, so that brushes always stay in the same clamp throughout the whole process. Special brush holder fixtures for full round toilet brushes, full round hairbrushes and Scandinavian style dish brushes are available.

The Aeola machine concept uses independently moving brush holder turrets, which only spend as much time as required in each station. The time saved for example, of the unloading of brushes and the loading of new brush blocks can be used to maximize the trimming/flagging time.

The Aeola-2 is a compact double header machine that is very suitable for materials that won’t pick well enough to run at extremely high speeds or for brush models that won’t allow high speeds. It will give an extremely high output, and sports the same innovative features as the single header Aeola: a very simple high-speed filling tool, independently working turrets and excellent accessibility.

The NM is a very compact carrousel machine that uses the same high-speed filling tool as the Aeola. The 5-axis machine controls make this machine very universal and flexible, and with only 3 clamping stations, it’s quick to change-over and tooling is simple and affordable. Tufted brushes can be ejected on an outfeed conveyor, and loading of new blocks happens manually or by means of an infeed system during the drilling and filling cycle, far away from the moving drill unit and filling tool. This boosts the efficiency and keeps the safety of the operator optimal. NM is available with brush holders for standard brooms and brushes, as well as with brush holder turrets for toilet brushes and dish brushes.