Description
Product Overview
The LF810TAB is the sideflexing configuration of the LF810 narrow-body flat top chain — a tab-link sideflexing chain designed for compact machine installations where horizontal curves must be navigated within the same tight spatial constraints that make the LF810 straight chain the appropriate specification on the adjacent straight sections. The 810TAB primary application is the instant noodle manufacturing conveyor — a well-documented and highly specific application where the chain carries noodle portions through the cutting, forming, and drying stages within a machine housing. EverPower plastic chain Australia supplies the LF810TAB as a direct replacement for System Plast 810TAB.
Standard packing is 10 ft (3.048 m) per box at 52 links per metre — more links per metre than the standard 26 links/m of the LF820 range, reflecting a shorter effective link pitch in the 810TAB design. Maximum conveyor run 12 m. Operating temperature −40 °C to +90 °C. POM-C plate material, SUS304 stainless steel pins. Visit the About Us page for more on EverPower’s manufacturing and supply capability.
Instant Noodle Manufacturing: The Defining Application Context
Instant noodle production lines are one of the highest-volume food processing operations in the Asia-Pacific region, and the LF810TAB was developed within this application context. The noodle manufacturing process involves forming a continuous noodle sheet, cutting it into individual portions, folding the portions into the characteristic wave pattern, and conveying them through a hot-air drying tunnel. Each of these stages requires a conveyor chain that can navigate the machine’s internal geometry — which includes tight curve transitions between the cutting section, the folding section, and the drying tunnel entry.
The LF810TAB series’ narrow body allows it to fit within the machine’s internal chain guide channels, where broader chains (LF820, LF880TAB) would foul the mechanism housing. The tab-link sideflexing capability allows the chain to navigate the horizontal direction changes between processing sections within the machine envelope. The 52 links per metre packing density (compared to 26 for standard flat top chains) provides a denser product support surface suited to the irregular geometry of raw noodle portions, which have a contact surface area that would bridge across standard-pitch inter-plate gaps.
At typical instant noodle production speeds — approximately 100–200 portions per minute — the LF810TAB conveyor runs at 3–8 m/min within the machine, well within the chain rated speed. The more demanding constraint is the repeated CIP cycles that clean the noodle residue from the chain at shift end — the chain must withstand daily alkaline wash-down at 80–85 °C without dimensional change or hinge binding.
52 Links per Metre: Engineering Significance
The LF810TAB series’ 52 links per metre — double the 26 links per metre of the standard LF820 and nearly double the 39 links per metre of the LF520 — reflects the shorter effective link pitch designed into the 810TAB body. This higher link density serves two functions. First, it provides a more continuous and uniform support surface under noodle portions, which have a non-uniform base contact pattern. Second, it reduces the polygon effect at any given chain speed — at the same 5 m/min conveyor speed, a chain with 52 links/m completes twice as many sprocket engagement events per second as a 26 links/m chain, dramatically reducing the amplitude of the velocity variation per event and creating a smoother, more stable conveying surface for the fragile raw noodle portions.
The 52 links/m density also makes the LF810TAB heavier per metre than equivalent-width standard chains, and this weight is the primary reason the maximum run length is specified at 12 m rather than the 24 m achievable by LF820. At 12 m with full product load, the chain tension from accumulated chain weight and product load approaches the design limit for the 810TAB link plates.
General Application Beyond Instant Noodles
While the instant noodle application is the LF810TAB series’ defining context, the chain is also specified in other compact machine conveyor applications where the combination of narrow body, tab-link sideflexing, and high link density provides advantages over alternatives. Compact bakery depositor conveyors, where dough portions must be conveyed through the depositor mechanism on a narrow chain that follows tight horizontal curves within the machine, are a relevant second application in the Australian food manufacturing market.
Small-format pharmaceutical blister conveyor sections — where blister cards move from the forming station to the sealing station within a compact machine housing — also use the LF810TAB in some machine OEM designs. The narrow body allows multiple blister card lanes to run in parallel within the machine housing, while the sideflexing capability routes the blister card path around the machine’s drive mechanism components without the need for mechanical curve units that would add to the machine footprint.
Matched Components EverPower Supplies
| Component | Description | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| LF810TAB Curve Sprockets | Narrow body, tab-link pitch, all K-widths | ✓ On request |
| LF810 Straight Chain | For straight sections on the same compact machine conveyor | ✓ In stock |
| Replacement Tab Links (810TAB) | Individual tab links, all widths | ✓ On request |
| LF880TAB Standard Sideflexing | For wider-format curves where 810TAB body width is not a constraint | ✓ In stock |
What Our Customers Say
“LF810TAB on our instant noodle cutting and forming section — exactly the chain the machine was designed for. Direct replacement for the System Plast 810TAB that came with the machine. Same dimensions, same sprocket fit, same guide rail profile. Zero machine modifications required. Running at 7 m/min in daily production for 11 months without chain adjustment.”
— Production Engineer, Instant Noodle Manufacturing, Sydney NSW
“We specified LF810TAB for a compact bakery depositor modification project — three parallel lanes within a 280 mm housing width, with a 120° direction change. The 810TAB body is the only tab-link chain narrow enough for the lane spacing we needed. Running at 4 m/min without any guide rail contact issues through the curves.”
— Machinery Modification Engineer, Bakery Equipment, Melbourne VIC
“The 52 links per metre specification was not initially obvious to our maintenance team — they were expecting 26 links per metre based on the LF820 standard. EverPower’s technical team clarified the packing difference and provided the correct replacement quantity calculation before we placed the order. That kind of technical communication before order placement avoids costly over-ordering.”
— Engineering Buyer, Food Processing Equipment, Brisbane QLD
