Poka-yoke is a Japanese term roughly translated to “mistake-proofing”. Techniques include the use of sensors to verify part location, orientation and quality, fixturing to ensure incorrect components can’t be installed, sequencing and detection of proper assembly steps by such techniques …
I was browsing through some old pictures of systems trying to get some inspiration for today’s post and ran across some pictures of the cotton classing system we helped put into the USDA facility in Memphis. This was a cooperative …
As I travel on business I realized that it is more difficult to post when on the road. All of the familiar patterns are broken as I don’t have a ready plugged-in and booted up computer to sit down and …
Most people who work around electricity are familiar with multimeters. They have been around since the 1920s and used to only be available in analog form with a moving needle that pointed to several scales. Originally multimeters only measured current …
This small test stand was built in 2005 for Kiesler Automotive, a custom transmission builder in Maryville, Tennessee. After placing the transmission into the cradle and closing a couple of DeStaCo clamps by hand, a 2 hand anti-tiedown station is …
With all of the different types of sensors available and so many manufacturers and vendors competing for your business sometimes it can be difficult or confusing to choose the correct sensor for an application. In many cases such as detecting …
This was a contact lens inspection station built in 2005 for Vistakon, a Florida company. It has 2 cameras mounted to X-Y-Z axes with similarly mounted backlighting below the moving pallet. Samples would be taken from the production lines and …
The process industry has used P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams) for many years as a method of describing the relationships between piping, instrumentation and system components. Usually this is applied to chemical, batching or fluid transfer projects and is nearly …
Usually it is not very economical to build your own conveyor but occasionally an application requires a product that is not readily available. There are quite a few companies that will build a custom conveyor for you but delivery time …
In my previous life I spent about 30-40% of my time doing vision applications. Most of the jobs I did involved using “smart cameras” which are self-contained vision systems where the frame grabber circuitry, image processing and I/O are built …
