Our egg tray making machine is a paper pulp molding machine designed to turn waste paper and water into molded paper egg trays. As a professional manufacturer, we provide different egg tray making machine models for small, medium, and large-scale production, with capacities from about 1,000 to 7,000 pieces per hour.
Besides standard egg trays, the machine can also be equipped with different molds to produce other molded pulp packaging products, such as egg cartons, fruit trays, coffee cup trays, bottle trays, and industrial protective packaging.
What Is an Egg Tray Making Machine?
The egg tray manufacturing machine is also known as a paper pulp molding machine. It uses waste paper as the main raw material and forms wet pulp into a specific shape through molds.
The machine is widely called an egg tray machine because egg trays account for a large proportion of paper pulp molded products. Depending on the mold design, the same production system can be used to manufacture different types of molded pulp packaging.
A typical egg tray production process consists of three main sections:
Waste paper → Pulping → Pulp mixing → Pulp molding → Dewatering → Drying → Stacking → Packing
The complete production process combines the pulping system, forming system, and drying system.
How Does the Egg Tray Forming Machine Work?
The working process of an egg tray making machine can be divided into three main stages.
1. Pulping
Waste paper is mixed with water and processed by the pulper to make paper pulp. The waste paper and water are mixed at approximately a 1:10 ratio during pulping, the specific ratio may be adjusted based on actual circumstances..
The pulp is then transferred to the pulp mixing tank. Colorants, waterproofing agents, or other additives can be added according to the requirements of the finished product.
A pulp pump transfers the pulp into the supply tank, while additional water is added to adjust the pulp concentration to approximately 3%–5%.
2. Egg Tray Forming
The forming section mainly consists of the:
- Egg tray forming machine
- Vacuum pump
- Air compressor
The vacuum pump creates negative pressure. The pulp is sucked onto the forming mold through the stainless-steel mesh, while excess water is removed through the vacuum system.
After dewatering, the wet egg tray takes shape on the mold. Compressed air then transfers the formed egg tray from the forming mold to the transfer mold and finally onto the tray or conveyor belt.
3. Drying
The newly formed egg trays still contain moisture and need to be dried before packing.
Depending on the production capacity and customer’s site conditions, different drying solutions can be selected, including:
- Natural sun drying
- Drying box
- Brick-built drying system
- Multi-layer metal drying system
After drying, the egg trays can be counted, stacked, and packed.
What Can an Egg Tray Making Machine Produce?
Although the main application is egg tray production, the paper pulp molding technology can be used for many types of molded pulp packaging.