When buyers evaluate a fruit net machine, the most frequently asked performance question is linear speed: how many meters per minute can it actually extrude? For a standard EPE foam fruit net machine-the 75-type single-screw line that dominates apple, pear, and citrus sleeve production-the quoted line speed is typically 10–60 m/min, with most stable commercial runs sitting at 15–30 m/min for normal-density foam nets. A PP/PE knotless extruded fruit net machine (non-foamed tubular mesh) runs faster, often 20–80 m/min, because there is no foaming expansion or cooling collapse to manage.
The reason "standard" spans such a wide band is that meters per minute on a fruit net machine is not a fixed constant-it is the output of a speed–density–diameter triangle. A 75 mm screw EPE fruit net machine rated at 27–30 kg/h translates to roughly 18–25 m/min when producing a 30 mm-diameter apple net at 25 kg/m³ foam density, but drops to 10–12 m/min if you enlarge the sleeve to 60 mm or raise foam ratio to 40×. Conversely, a light 20 mm citrus sleeve at low foam ratio can hit 45–55 m/min on the same machine before cooling becomes the bottleneck.
Cooling capacity, not screw RPM, is what caps real-world speed. EPE foam exits the die at ~110 °C and must be skin-set before the puller; air-water hybrid cooling on a decent fruit net machine allows 30–40 m/min, while single air-cooling stalls around 15–20 m/min. That is why two 75-type machines with identical screw specs can quote "10–60 m/min" yet deliver very different sustainable throughput-the cooling tunnel length and water ring design decide it.
Screw size sets the ceiling. A 65-type fruit net machine (12–22 kg/h) realistically runs 8–18 m/min; the 75-type (27–40 kg/h) sits in the 15–30 m/min comfort zone; a 90-type high-output fruit net machine with servo puller reaches 50–80 m/min for thin low-density nets, though foam nets rarely need that velocity because downstream cutting and packing become the limiter.
For production planning, a pragmatic rule: quote 60% of the machine's max m/min as your shift average. A standard 75 EPE fruit net machine advertised at "10–60 m/min" will give you ~18–22 m/min over an 8-hour shift after die changes, tension tweaks, and butt splices. At 20 m/min and 30 kg/h, that is ~14 tons/month of finished nets-enough for roughly 1.4 million apple sleeves. Treat the brochure top speed as peak laboratory number, not floor reality.
In short, a standard foam fruit net machine delivers 15–30 m/min in daily operation, a knotless PP/PE mesh machine 20–60 m/min, and only upgraded high-speed servo lines sustain 50–80 m/min. Match the speed class to your sleeve size and monthly volume, not to the highest number on the datasheet.