There are a couple options now for your heavy duty poly strapping tools. Lets start with how we got here, and go through the best strapping tools.
Last century packaging lines everywhere used steel strapping. The first line of battery operated strapping tools were the tiger tool (no longer in existance) and Orgapack OR-T83, ORT85, ORT86. These banding tools were nicely designed. They let you trade two seperate tools, a strap tension and a strapping sealer, for one. The single tool could pull strapping tight, the user had to crank the handle. But it used a battery to perform a weld. It was a hybrid manual and electric banding tool. The big advangages were: 1) a single tool 2) no seal needed. Orgapack has a hybrid today. The Orgapack OR-T 50 is used as the entry level battery tool.
The first round of completely electric battery tools were invented around the turn of the century. The Fromm P320 (light duty version) and P321 (heavy duty version) started the banding tools you would recognize today. Orgapack soon followed with the OR-T200 and OR-T300. Fromm upgraded the the P322 and P323 which still had two motors. Fromm’s next upgrade the P324 and P325 used only one motor. The previous tools all had one motor to tension, and another motor to seal. The P324/325 was a huge step to make the tools lighter.
By 2010 the strapping tools caught up to a popular trend with hand tools. They switched power supply to Lithium! Lets look at the light and heavy duty tools. One of the nicest strapping tools today is the Orgapack OR-T 250 for 1/2″ and 5/8″ (buy OR-T 250 here). Orgapack makes the Signode BXT2-16 (buy a Signode BXT2-16 here). Their heavy duty strapping tool is the Orgapack OR-T 400 (buy OR-T 400 here). Signode BXT2-19 is very simular to the Orgapack tool.
Fromm moved into lithium powered battery tools with the P326 and P327. The move to lithium batteries solved some major problems. Now most shops could strap all shift with out the need to change the battery. Lithium powered strapping tools worked in cold weather, the battery didn’t drain when not in use, and the batteries lasted much longer. Todays battery strapping tools pull 200-400 cycles, and the battery will last up to 5 years under warranty!
The heavy duty strapping tools started catching on in 2011, with the Fromm P330. This is the first banding tool to run 1″ polyester banding! You can see some heavy duty strapping applications on things like pipe done with poly today! You can also see rail road approved AAR steel, poly, and cord strapping. Today there is even 1 1/4″ x .050″ AAR approved polyester strapping!
Signode (Orgapack/ITW) was not far behind Fromm in the move to 1 and 1.25 inch poly strapping tools. They came out with the Signode BXT2-32 (buy the Signode BXT2-32 here), the BXT2-25 is the same tool with a different guide set.
Fromm is expected to come out with their 1.25 inch polyester banding tool, it should be out in 2013 or 2014. The tool will be called Fromm P331.
With todays incredible strapping tools there is little reason to use steel strapping. There is a new strapping tool manufacturer that makes even tougher banding tools. For poly strapping and webbing with up to 18,000 pound break strength, use the Golden Bear C11.