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100 Seed Thermoform Multi-Card

What are Thermoform Multi-Cards and Why Do I Need One?

Thermoform multi-cards are an important part of our x-ray inspection test piece product line. We first came out with the cards in June of 2016, and since then (2020) have sold nearly 2,000 thermoform cards.

Thermoform is a clear plastic that is virtually invisible under x-ray, but it hardens like any of our other acetal test pieces.  This gives it great durability, even in a wet environment, so it has advantages over a typical laminate card. In fact, our thermoform is one of the same kinds of plastics used in the packaging industry to house all kinds of products, like toys, batteries, bottles and more. It’s also used for 3-D printing. And it will safely encase nearly any size test contaminant you might need.

Thermoform is exactly what its name implies – a vacuum process that forms itself to whatever is inside. So we can use it to house contaminants of any size and multiple contaminants (we’ve made cards with up to 100 seeds). And it meets the requirements of the FDA for food grade use. Take a look at the 91mm Christmas ornament we encased (see photo) and you can see how tight the forming process is.  So thermoform multi-cards are a very unique introduction to the market.

24 Seed Thermoform Multi-Card

Multi-Cards

The demand for thermoform multi-cards has increased exponentially in the last 2-3 years.  Customers are looking for better ways to discover what they can accomplish in product testing and safety. Using a multi-card, you can easily determine the best possible settings and setup for your product. In one instance, one customer is utilizing an 8”x8” multi-card with a 10×10 grid of 1.2mm Stainless Steel 316 seeds. The card is used to determine what locations and size metal can be seen under x-ray examination. Laying beneath the chicken, the card allows the operator to set the best focus point for the inspection process. Using a single-seed card would require extensive time to setup and to meet the demands of a HACCP plan. That means downtime for production and potentially an oversight in the testing process.

What Customers are Using

Several of our customers are using 4” x 4” thermoform multi-cards with 24 seeds, 6 each of Stainless Steel 316, Soda-Lime Glass, Ceramic and Rubber. This way, the customer works quickly to see what sizes can be achieved on their system. The testing time can be reduced by as much as 50% or more. In this illustration, once the testing was done, the customer purchased 4 individual cards that represent the sizes achieved. Overall, that represents a savings of 54% on test cards.  And that doesn’t include the savings in testing time and production down-time.  Of course, the combination of types and sizes is your choice.  You could choose a single seed card which are available on our website.  Or, if you want multiple seeds of the same type (see photo with SLG) or a card with multiple types and sizes, we can accommodate your need.

91mm Thermoform Card

Separate Cards

Another customer purchased separate multi-cards, each of its own contaminant type and several sizes. The cards were so unique and worked so well for their purposes, they purchased 80 cards including contaminant types: Ferrous, Non-Ferrous, Stainless Steel 316, Aluminum, Rubber, Soda-Lime Glass, Ceramic and Teflon. But it’s not just large companies that find this product useful. When it comes to food safety, it doesn’t really matter if you’re a mom ‘n pop store or a Fortune 500 company.

At Regal Packaging Services (Testrods.com), we’re always looking for ways to create better, easier methods of testing on the production line. If we can save you time, money and effort in your manufacturing time and help you get the best, safest quality product out to the marketplace,

Why We’re Important

We believe we are an integral part of the food and pharmaceutical industries. There isn’t any challenge we haven’t met yet. Customized test pieces represent more than 10% of our sales. We’re the only company offering this kind of thermoform product. It doesn’t matter if it’s a single seed card 1” square or the 100 seed card mentioned earlier at 8” x 8.” It’s because we’re not just selling a product, we’re supporting our customers. We’re ISO 9001:2015 approved and have the experience and knowledge to provide you with the test pieces that will meet the demands of your HACCP plans, FSMA, BRC and the GFSI. Give us a call to see how we can customize a solution for you.

2 Comments

  1. rzeamer says:

    ORDER CONFIRMATION:52733 – Please add these items to my cart so we can purchase them.

    • brian says:

      Custom items are not available on the website. We will send a payment link for the items you ordered.

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Some applications involve large tubs, vats, or some other type of product travel where it would be nice to have a test piece that floats. Once again, our thermoform cards provide the simplest solution. We simply insert some type of structure that forces the thermoform card to retain air, which, of course, is what makes it float. We have also manufactured floating rods, which are more difficult because there is less space to close in enough air to make the rod float but is doable.

We took an ordinary plastic “chip clip” as defined by the customer and embedded the contaminant into the clip. The clip can be attached to the product on the line without damaging or opening the product for testing purposes.

Bone is a difficult contaminant to find because it can vary widely based on the size, age, and calcium content (as well as feed used) of the animal. After working with several customers, Regal Packaging Services offers Pork, Beef and Chicken Bone Simulate. We have a small range of sizes at a variety of depths to simulate whatever you might expect to find in the product. Our recommendation (assuming your x-ray has visual display) is always to start with a multi-card. Using a multi-card gives you an easy way to test several sizes and depths to determine what matches the bone you’re using. Once you’ve made a comparison, testing the card against the bone you’re looking for, you can purchase a card with a single contaminant for regular testing.

This small pill shaped test piece is used in a system with a vacuum tube that shoots the test piece through the aperture and returns it to the “home” base. Your system may never be like it, but the point is that we can make a customized solution no matter how unusual or impossible it might seem.

As you may have seen in some of the other thermoform card descriptions, we can put nearly as many seeds as you can imagine on a single card. Pictured here you will find a wide variety of configurations and contaminants. Just let us know your specs: size of the card (up to 8” x 8”) along with size and type contaminant(s) and we’ll get you a quote as quickly as possible. Working with a multi-card is especially helpful when you are looking for multiple types of contaminants or when you want to determine what size of the same contaminant you are able to detect. In that event, once the size is chosen, you can order individual card(s) for regular, standard inspection and detection.

There are a wide range of applications that require a test piece much longer than our standard 5” or 6” Testrods. We can make up to 3/8” x 34” or 1/2” x 34” rigid test pieces which can then be extended well beyond that length with a “handle” made of acetal cylinder larger than the 3/8” or 1/2” extension. In the photos, we used a 1” x 24” cylinder handle with a 3/8” x 24” inch extension.

Test pieces can be made in a variety of sizes and given a pointed end in applications that require the contaminant (metal) to be inserted into a food package such as sugar or some other soft packaged food product. This allows the metal to reach the center of the aperture.

Double-End Test Whips are also available, with metal in both ends. One consideration is to make certain that the whip is long enough to keep the metal on the non-testing side of the whip outside the metal free zone of your detector. If you insert, for instance one end of a whip with 2.0mm and 3.0mm Ferrous, you need to make certain that the 2.0mm metal doesn’t affect the detection of the 3.0mm metal (and vice versa). If the 3.0mm metal is inside the metal free zone, then the detector will be reacting to the 2.0 as well as the 3.0 as if they were combined.

Multi-seed laminate test cards are designed for seeds 4.0mm or less. Multi-cards are useful in x-ray inspection to determine what sizes and types of contaminants your system can achieve. They can be especially useful in temperate environments and applications. If your application is rugged or wet, or your standards are larger, we recommend our thermoform multi-cards.

We can simulate a variety of packaging in an application where you need the test piece to mimic what is traveling down the production line. In this case, we manufactured a clear “package” with the seed inside. With this method, the customer is able to reject the container appropriately, and, in the event the package is not rejected, it is easily seen by the line worker for manual removal.

There are two types of “candy bars” pictured here – one similar to a flat candy bar and the other in a custom, near perfect copy of a candy bar. Since we’re now able to produce many variations using colored material, the copy was made in red (Fe), green (NFe) and blue (SS 316). We have the equipment to accomplish nearly anything you can imagine, and these kinds of designs are proof positive.

Need a test piece that looks and handles like chicken nugget? We can do it. Interestingly enough, in this situation, our first version for the customer left too much “void” in the hole where the metal was placed. Given the sensitivity the customer system was using, the void had the effect of causing false positives. We were able to minimize that hole and supply the test piece with almost no void. It’s an example of how we can work with you before, during and after manufacturing to ensure all the specifications were met.

Our standard acetal card is 2 1/4"x3 3/8,” but if needed, we can cut that size down to as small as 1 1/4” x 1 1/4” (with limited engraving). If a larger card or a card with multiple seeds is needed, see our Custom Shape-Size Blocks and Tablets.

This distinctive test piece was created to mimic an actual hamburger patty. The customer supplied photos of the raw product, which we were able to reproduce and then we placed blue glove contaminant. Using this configuration, the customer was able to determine what size piece the vision scanning system could detect with the raw burger as the background. Had they simply used a blank card with the glove, the system could easily have achieved contaminant rejection, but they needed to be sure the system could “see” the blue against the product itself.

A card with 100 seeds in a 10x10 configuration is used to place beneath whole chickens on a production line. This gives the x-ray system operator the ability not just to see IF the equipment can detect the metal in the card, but also WHERE the equipment can detect it. If there is a problem, the operator (or company) can make any changes necessary to achieve the end goal – safe chicken in this case. This card really highlights another valuable facet of our thermoform cards.

In this scenario, a company processing sugar needed to have a “bag” simulated with the same weight in order to accurately fall through the reject mechanism. A lighter test piece had the risk of passing over the reject mechanism.

Our standard cubes are 1” and 1.5,” but we can also manufacture other sizes if needed. The cubes shown here are 1/2" in dimensions. Cubes can be helpful in applications where a ball or cylinder may bounce or roll away during testing, making their retrieval difficult, or, in some cases, present a hazard to the product or production equipment.

This is a test piece that is dropped into a bottle. It’s designed so that the metal appears in the center of the aperture when testing the metal detector. In addition, the round stop makes the test piece easily removable after testing.

Hexagonal Shaped test pieces can be very useful in places where a cylinder or ball might roll or bounce around a production floor whether dropped by a line worker or ejection from a reject mechanism. Hexagons are similar in weight to the 1inch cylinders without having the smooth, rounded cylinder edge.

Our customer in this plant needed a test piece with a thickness less than 5.0mm. Because we have the capacity to customize sizes and shapes, we were able to mill down a product that met their specifications. That’s always our goal, meeting the specs you need for your product, testing environment and contaminants.

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