Traceability of products is essential for most manufacturers. Being able to record batch and product data and manufactured dates allows companies to track their products from the manufacturing process and ultimately to when the product goes into the field. SP Automation and Robotics was asked to design and manufacture a laser marking and inspection system for a component that was part of an overall medical device assembly.
The challenge was to design, develop and build a complete marking module. The system had to accept multiple family of parts, and therefore, change tooling was required.
Based around a servo-driven tooled star wheel, the metal components were from a bowl feeder onto a linear feed track. At the end of the track, the components were fed into scallops machined into the star wheel.
Although the machine’s output was 100 parts per minute, the design and rotational speed of the scalloped star wheel meant that no outside retaining rings were required to hold the product in location.
The part was sensed on entering the dial plate, and an encoder flag was set to track its position. The product was then moved past a Keyence laser maker system, which coded the product with a unique number and barcode. Immediately after the laser marking, a camera inspected the quality and accuracy of the printed codes.
Parts that passed all tests were cammed out of the dial plate and into a collection bin. Failed parts were then unloaded into a reject bin.
