INTEGRATED APPLICATION
Tip-On & Card Attaching
Precision Placement: Servo-driven positioning with ±1/8" accuracy for consistent, professional attachment on every piece.
Dual Media Capability: Attach 1 or 2 cards, magnets, or specialty items per piece with adjustable spacing.
Compact Inline Integration: 8" x 17" footprint mounts on virtually any transport base — fits where larger attaching systems can't.
Executive Summary
Tip-on and card attaching turns ordinary mail pieces into something a recipient actually picks up, holds, and interacts with. A credit card offer with a physical card attached gets opened. A hotel mailer with a magnetic room key sample gets noticed. A fundraising piece with a coin or stamp affixed gets a response. The physical attachment is what separates tip-on mail from everything else in the mailbox — and it consistently delivers the highest response rates in direct mail.
But inline card attaching has traditionally required oversized, complicated, and expensive equipment that most mail houses couldn't justify. Mailtech integrates the Straight Shooter SA-5 servo attaching feeder with upstream friction feeders and a Walco vacuum transport base to build compact, affordable tip-on systems that run at production speeds without the complexity.
The system works by feeding host mail pieces (letters, brochures, self-mailers, cartons) along a vacuum transport. The SA-5, mounted inline on the transport, pulls cards or media from its tilted hopper using patented Buckle Separation™ technology, then positions and applies each piece with servo-driven accuracy at ±1/8". An optional upstream DPi inkjet head can print variable data — personalized codes, unique URLs, or serialized numbers — on each card before it's attached.
Key Advantages
Highest Response Rate Format: Tip-on mail consistently outperforms flat mail in response rates. The physical attachment creates a tactile interaction that recipients engage with.
Wide Media Range: Cards, magnets, gift cards, scratch-offs, product samples, coins, booklets — the SA-5 handles media from 2" x 2" up to 5" x 12", single sheets up to 1/4" thick.
Turn-Key Package: The SA-5 ships complete with controller, color touchscreen, servo motor, encoder, photo eyes, and knockdown rollers. No piecing together components from multiple vendors.
Batch Counting Built In: Programmable batch counting for packaging — automatically count and separate finished pieces into stacks for traying or bundling.
Affordable Entry Point: The SA-5 is a fraction of the cost of traditional servo attaching systems, making inline tip-on accessible to operations that previously outsourced this work.
Variable Data on Attached Media: Add an upstream DPi inkjet head to print unique codes, personalized URLs, or serialized data on each card before it's attached — combining variable data with physical media in a single pass.
How It Works
FEED: Host mail pieces — letters, brochures, self-mailers, or cartons — travel along a Walco vacuum transport beneath the inline SA-5 attaching station at up to 25,000 pieces per hour.
PLACE: The Straight Shooter SA-5 separates each card from its hopper using patented Buckle Separation™ technology and positions it with servo-driven ±1/8" accuracy — with an optional upstream DPi inkjet head printing variable data on the card first.
ATTACH: A glue dot secures the card to the carrier, which is then Z-folded with the card sealed inside, ready for tabbing and mailing.
A glue dot is applied to the flat carrier, the card is precisely placed by the SA-5 servo feeder, then the carrier is Z-folded with the card secured inside ready for tabbing and mailing.