Rubber Tapping Blades for Automatic Rubber Tapping Machine

Abstract

     The objective of this investigation was to study the performance of rubber tapping blades designed for an automatic para rubber tapping machine. Three types of the circular tapping knife: (1) a U shaped cutting blade, (2) an inset blade and (3) a “Jebong” blade were designed and fabricated. The results showed that the type 2 knife obtained the minimum average of bark wastage (1.98-2.17 mm) during the study. On the other hand, the average bark wastage for the type 1 knife was increased to 2.67-2.90 mm. The type 3 rubber tapping knifes had the average bark wastage of maximum of 2.91-3.11 mm, compared
to type 1 and type 2. Despite, the type 1 rubber tapping knife was more suitable for the automatic rubber tapping machine than type 2 and 3, because the incised rubber tree bark was smoother and the width was 4.58 mm. Additionally, the cutting efficiency depended on circular knife rotation speed because the bark wastage increased in relation to the increase of circular rotation of knife speeds. Furthermore, the incised rubber tree bark was smoother when the circular knife rotation speeds increased.