Binder Processing
This is another machine built with NAS in about the 1998-1999 time frame. As you can tell, NAS was a huge user of aluminum extrusion; for about 5 years or so the were the biggest 80-20 customer in East Tennessee. …
Category: Applications
Special machines and custom projects
Leak Tester
This is another application done with NAS from about 1998. We did a lot of vision, gauging and leak testing applications for Tennex, a Japanese cooperative venture in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This company has since been bought by Mahle, a German …
An HMI application
This is a screen shot from a job I subcontracted for in about 2002 or so. A Kraft Life Savers plant was shut down in Michigan due to the US tariffs on sugar and moved to Montreal in Canada. This …
The Art of Pokayoke
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 …
Non-Industrial Industrial Applications
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 …
Hello from Tucson
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 …
Transmission Test Stand
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 …
Contact Lens Inspection
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 …
Build your own Conveyor
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 …
Spotlight on Vision
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 …