Motivation
Last week I discussed a little bit about a project I was working on. It involved evaluating a system that had a lot of problems, mostly due to human error and lack of attention to detail. The follow-up involved having …
Author: Frank
Electrical Engineer and business owner from the Nashville, Tennessee area. I also play music, Chess and Go.
Details
Not long after starting the original Automation Consulting in 1996 I met a machine builder in Knoxville who taught me a great deal about machine building. When we started working together there were only a few of us and sometimes …
Scales and Load Cells
Last week I described some of the vibratory equipment used in the system I was working on. I wrapped up most of the work on that system and have moved on to a different type of machine, but I thought …
Mechanics of Vibratory Equipment
The system I am currently working on is a machine that packages small plastic components. It consists of a number of hoppers with linear vibratory feeders that convey the parts into a mechanism that weighs the parts and feeds them …
Video
A friend of mine made this video for me for this site. Allie Small and I were in a rock band from 1983-1985, he now owns a company called Signature Media Group near Atlanta. We only recently got back in …
Free Book!
I have been asked by McGraw-Hill to find people willing to review my book on Amazon’s website. So far I have three people who have volunteered to do it, I still need 9 more. Tony? Gordon? The only requirement is …
Machine Builders and Integrators
This morning I decided to update the list of machine builders and integrators under the resources tab of this site. There is a definite bias in this list that leans towards companies in Tennessee, and an additional bias towards companies …
Debug and Startup
After spending the last four or five months finishing the book and working on my new company website I have taken a short job doing debug and startup on some machinery. The picture above is from a machine I worked …
Operator Assisted Automation
Automated production lines and cells often have stations that require operator interfacing with the equipment. Typically this is due to the extreme costs that are associated with manual loading of parts into a machine. Parts may be too large or …
What do you Want?
Well, I can’t help you with that, but… Believe it or not, until a few days ago, I really had no idea why people came to my website. I wrote a few months ago how I had been able to …