Hollow Core Storage Carousel for Printing Sleeves in Paper and Film Converting
The Vidir Hollow Core Carousel stores flexographic printing sleeves on cantilevered carriers, rotates the sleeve you call down to waist height and lets one operator slide it off and onto the cart. Built to fit the pressroom, with timed rotation to keep stored sleeves round.
6 to 30 in
Sleeve diameter range Vidir publishes
30 to 120 in
Published carrier length range
13,000 lb
Overall unit capacity (chain rating)
25 ft/min
Published retrieval speed
Who Needs Hollow Core Storage
Flexographic printers and converters that run sleeve-mounted plates and anilox sleeves end up with a tooling problem that grows every year. Each job has its own set of sleeves, the sleeves are long, light for their size and easy to dent or knock out of round, and they usually live on cantilever racks or floor stands that reach well above head height. Finding the right set for the next changeover means a ladder, a lift or two people, and the sleeves at the top or the back are the ones that get damaged.
The Vidir Hollow Core Carousel is Vidir’s patented answer to that problem. Vidir describes it as the ideal solution for storing, organizing and accessing printing sleeves, designed specifically for the printing and converting industry. The plants that ask us about it most often are:
- Flexible packaging converters printing film for food, consumer and industrial packaging.
- Label and narrow-web printers with a large library of job-specific sleeves.
- Paper, tissue and paperboard converters printing wraps, bags and cartons on sleeve presses.
- Plate-mounting and prepress departments that stage mounted sleeves for the next shift.
If your press uses solid, journaled print cylinders rather than sleeves, the machine you want is the Vidir Print Cylinder Carousel; we compare the two below. Every other Vidir machine, from wire and tire carousels to vertical lift modules, is on our Vidir vertical storage solutions hub.
How a Hollow Core Carousel Works
A vertical carousel is a set of carriers on a chain loop inside a tall frame. Press a button or enter a location and the loop rotates, taking the shortest path, until the carrier you asked for stops at the loading opening. On the Hollow Core Carousel each carrier is a cantilevered arm: it is supported at one end only, so a sleeve slides on and off the free end the same way it slides onto a press mandrel.
Vidir says the cantilevered design is what cuts tooling changeover time. Nothing has to be lifted over a rail or unhooked; the operator slides the sleeve straight off the carrier, puts it on a sleeve cart and rolls it to the press. Returning a set is the same motion in reverse. Vidir calls this the product-to-operator principle: the machine brings the sleeve to an ergonomic height instead of the operator climbing to the sleeve.
Why timed rotation matters. A sleeve that sits in the same position for weeks carries its load the same way the whole time. Vidir builds in timed rotation, standard on the unit, so the carousel moves periodically and, in Vidir’s words, protects inventory and prevents sleeves from deforming during storage. For a converter, a sleeve that is out of round is a print-quality problem that shows up on the press, not in the storeroom.
Controls and safety. Vidir’s standard package lists auto-retrieval with a manual jog function, a variable frequency drive for smooth starts and stops, safety light curtains across the opening and an obstruction detection sensor. Bigger installations can add Pick-to-Light, which lights the retrieval position across a bank of carousels so the operator goes straight to the right machine.
Vidir’s own video of the Hollow Core Carousel in operation.
Vertical Core Storage for Paper and Film Plants: What Fits
Searches for vertical core storage in paper and film manufacturing usually come from one of two places: the pressroom, where the cores are printing sleeves, or the winding and slitting floor, where the cores are the tubes material is wound on. It is worth being precise about which one the Hollow Core Carousel is built for.
- Printing sleeves: the designed application. Vidir’s brochure and specification sheet describe the machine entirely in terms of printing sleeves, and the published diameter range, 6 to 30 inches, is stated as sleeve diameter.
- Other hollow tooling and cores: ask, do not assume. Anything that slides onto a cantilevered carrier, falls inside the published length and diameter ranges and is within the carrier rating may be a candidate, because Vidir builds every unit to fit. Send us the dimensions and weights and we will confirm fit with Vidir before you plan around it.
- Full wound rolls: check the weight first. A finished roll of paper or film can weigh far more than an empty core. If yours exceed the carrier rating, look at the Vidir Textile Carousel for rolled goods or at roll racking instead.
That distinction is also the honest answer to a common question: the Hollow Core Carousel is not a parent roll warehouse. It is tooling storage that sits next to the press.
Hollow Core Carousel Specifications
Every Hollow Core Carousel is custom built, so Vidir publishes ranges rather than fixed models. The figures below come from Vidir’s current product page and the Hollow Core Carousel specification sheet in our literature library; more Vidir literature is on our Vidir brochures page.
One figure differs between sources. The specification sheet lists up to 450 lb per carrier, while Vidir’s current standard package lists 300 lb per carrier. We plan on the lower number, and the rating on your quote drawing is the one that governs.
| Specification | Published figure |
|---|---|
| Carrier length | 30 to 120 in |
| Sleeve diameter | 6 to 30 in |
| Unit width | Approx. 4 to 8 ft |
| Unit height | Approx. 10 to 30 ft |
| Unit depth | Approx. 10 to 26 ft |
| Overall capacity | 13,000 lb chain rating |
| Carrier capacity | 300 lb standard package (spec sheet lists up to 450 lb; confirmed on quote) |
| Off-balance | 23% of load capacity, standard package |
| Retrieval speed | 25 ft per minute |
| Electrical | 208/230 V 15 A or 460/480 V 10 A, 60 Hz, 3-phase; others on request |
| Controls | Auto-retrieval with manual jog; automatic control and auto-rotate standard |
| Safety | Safety light curtains, obstruction detection sensor, VFD |
| Enclosure and color | Corrugated exterior paneling; white panels and structure, grey carriers; RAL colors optional |
| Listing and warranty | cCSAus mark; 2-year manufacturer’s warranty, per Vidir |
Off-balance is the number that shapes your loading plan
A carousel is rated both for total weight and for how unevenly that weight can be spread around the loop. With sleeves of very different sizes, the order in which carriers are filled matters. We size the unit from your actual sleeve list so the loading plan stays inside Vidir’s limits.
Hollow Core Carousel vs. Print Cylinder Carousel
Vidir makes two machines for print tooling, and the difference comes down to what the tooling looks like. Sleeves are hollow tubes that slide onto a mandrel; print cylinders are solid rolls with journals at each end. Vidir’s Cylinder Carousel brochure shows cylinders hanging from the carrier on nylon or chain straps clipped to sliding collars, loaded from a cylinder cart underneath.
| Hollow Core Carousel | Print Cylinder Carousel | |
|---|---|---|
| Stores | Printing sleeves and similar hollow cores | Journaled print cylinders |
| How it holds them | Sleeve slides onto a cantilevered carrier | Cylinder hangs from straps or chain on carrier collars |
| Loading motion | Slide on or off at the opening | Raise off the cart on the strap, reverse to unload |
| Protecting the tooling | Timed rotation to prevent sleeve deformation | Straps or chain sized to cylinder weight |
| Our page | This page | Print cylinder carousel |
Plants running both sleeve presses and cylinder presses often end up with one of each in the same tooling room. Both belong to the broader family of vertical storage carousels, and both sit in our vertical storage for manufacturing section alongside the other plant-floor Vidir systems.
Planning a Hollow Core Carousel Project
Because the machine is built to fit, most of the work happens before the order. These are the items we collect from every converter before a quote is final.
- Sleeve list. Count, inside and outside diameters, lengths and weights, including the largest sleeves you expect to buy in the next few years.
- Clear height. Measured to the lowest obstruction, including sprinklers, lights and ducts. Height drives carrier count more than anything else.
- Footprint and access. Room at the loading opening for the operator and a sleeve cart, and an aisle from the carousel to the presses.
- Power. Which 3-phase service is available near the location, so the electrical option on the quote matches the building.
- Inventory tracking. Whether the carousel runs on its own software or connects to your ERP or WMS, and who owns that integration on your side.
- Floor and fire protection. A sound, level slab for anchoring, and an early conversation with your sprinkler contractor and local authority about tall enclosed storage.
- Delivery path. Door sizes, route to the final location and lifting equipment on site.
Sleeve data and photos
You send the sleeve list, room measurements, ceiling height and photos of the current storage.
Configuration
We work with Vidir on carrier length, unit height and the number of units, inside the published ranges.
Drawing and quote
A drawing places the carousel in your room with its electrical requirement; the quote states supply-only or supply and installation.
Delivery and handover
The unit is delivered, set and anchored, and operators are shown retrieval, loading and the safety devices.
What moves the price of a vertical carousel is covered in our vertical storage cost and pricing guide; we quote each Hollow Core Carousel individually because size and unit count change it substantially. Installation scope is explained on the installation services page, options such as Pick-to-Light on the accessories and options page, and preventive maintenance packages and parts on our Vidir parts and service support page.
Carousel or Static Cantilever Rack for Sleeves?
Most sleeve libraries start on static cantilever racks, and for a small library within arm’s reach that is a reasonable choice. Vidir’s argument for the carousel is about height: once storage goes vertical, static racking means the operator goes to the product, which Vidir calls hazardous for the employee, risky for the sleeve and slow. The carousel reverses that and puts every sleeve at the same working height.
| Vidir Hollow Core Carousel | Static cantilever sleeve rack | |
|---|---|---|
| Reaching a high sleeve | Rotates to the opening at working height | Ladder, lift or a second person |
| Protection | Enclosed, light curtains, timed rotation | Open, sleeves exposed to knocks and dust |
| Finding the set | Software location or ERP/WMS link | Labels and memory |
| Use of height | Up to approx. 30 ft of built-to-fit storage | Limited by safe reach |
| Best for | Large, growing sleeve libraries near the press | Small libraries within easy reach |
The general case for and against carousels is on our vertical carousel vs. traditional storage page, and if you are weighing a carousel against a tray-based machine for smaller tooling, see vertical carousel vs. vertical lift module. The generic vertical carousels hub covers carousel types from every application we supply.
Print cylinder carouselFor journaled print cylinders hung on straps or chain.
Vertical storage for manufacturingEvery Vidir system we supply for plant floors and tooling rooms.Shop Shipping & Packaging Supplies Online
The Hollow Core Carousel is quoted to order, not sold from the online store, and we do not stock sleeve-handling equipment online. These are real catalog packaging supplies converters use in their shipping departments: heavy double-wall boxes, stretch film and carton tape.
Get a free quote
Tell us what you are storing, the room size and your timeline. A project specialist will follow up with layout options and pricing. Prefer to talk? Call (800) 326-4403.
Hollow Core Carousel FAQs
What does a Vidir Hollow Core Carousel store?
What sleeve sizes does it take?
How much weight can each carrier hold?
Why does the carousel rotate on a timer?
Can it connect to our ERP or WMS?
Is it the same as the Vidir Print Cylinder Carousel?
What does it cost and how long does it take?
Planning Sleeve Storage for Your Pressroom?
Send us your sleeve list and room measurements. We will size a Vidir Hollow Core Carousel with Vidir, show it on a drawing in your space and quote supply or supply and installation.