Features:

• Integrated inspection and motion controls
• Integrated to existing production machines
• 100% inspection at variable production rates
• PLC and HMI controls

Situation:

A domestic specialty fastener manufacturer and supplier to PC OEMs is experiencing quality issues in its production of fasteners that it is furnishing in bulk. The quality issues are intermixed fasteners, and incorrectly stamped heads.

Problem:

Suppliers reject whole shipments whenever defects are found which forces the manufacturer to manually inspect each fastener. The fasteners are made on 13 distinct machines at a rate that makes manual inspection impossible. Random inspection are deemed unreliable.

Implication:

High cost for return of product and threat of losing contract.

Solution:

Accudyne Systems designed an inspection module that could be retrofitted on their existing indexing dial assembly machines to reject any damaged or mixed drive recesses (e.g. slot, Phillips, hex, Torx) in their completed parts. Inspection rates were up to 180 parts per minutes. The space constraints, differences in assembly machines, production rates and vision pattern recognition requirements were a considerable challenge. An inspection module was developed that accepted the oriented parts as they were ejected from the assembly machine and placed them in an independently driven inspection dial. The parts were indexed past a flash illuminated vision inspection station which was programmed to recognize the profile of seventeen different recesses. Once the desired recess was selected for inspection, any fastener with a recess that did not match the correct size or shape of that being produced was rejected. This equipment provided 100% recess inspection which eliminated product mixes and forming defects from reaching the final customer.