Product category:
Bearings and guideways - rotary and linear
News Release from: Igus UK | Subject: DryLin N linear bearing system
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 22 September 2004
Linear bearing resolves feeder jamming
problems
Innovative thinking and fast action helped avoid a packaging catastrophe, when the implementation of a linear guide system ended problems with one company's product feeder.
Innovative thinking and fast action helped avoid a packaging catastrophe, when the implementation of a linear guide system ended problems with one company's product feeder Visual Packaging International has been leading the Canadian packaging machinery industry for more than 25 years
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 28 Apr 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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The company manufactures a wide range of heat sealers, skin packaging, thermoforming and die cutting machines, as well as tooling to accompany each system.
When one of its key customers - a breath mints supplier - encountered performance problems and production downtime with the product feeder on its heat sealer, Visual Packaging needed to act fast to find a reliable, low-cost solution.
Various parts were mis-feeding and jamming in the product chute.
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Linear guide saves space, needs no lubrication
To combine variety, make the best possible use of existing space and all without the need for lubrication were the specifications laid down when producing a new linear guide.
Dry-running linear bearing offers longer life
New maintenance-free, dry-running linear bearing design results in longer life, higher precision and increased load capacity when compared with ball bearing systems.
The machine, a fully automatic, eight station blister sealer for heat sealing of plastic blisters to display cards, was supposed to be performing 20 cycles per minute, over three shifts per day.
However, the problem became so severe, the customer had to manually load the product into the machine.
Exasperated by continuing production interruptions, the customer approached Visual Packaging.
Visual Packaging then contacted JRTECH, the automated equipment company responsible for the design of the feeder and sealer, to help identify the problem.
They discovered the thickness and weight of the product was causing it to stick in the chute, creating a backlog and halting production.
The answer was to install two gates on the chute: one to let a set amount of product through to the heat sealer and the other to hold the rest of the product back.
In order to implement the gates, a linear guide system was required.
A ball bearing solution was expensive and would require grease and lubrication, which are not possible in applications involving food.
In the past, Jody D'Amico, president of JRTECH, had used bearings from Igus, a manufacturer of plastics bearings, linear guides, cable management systems and highly flexible cables.
The DryLin N linear guide system from Igus fit the size and parameters of the Visual Packaging application perfectly.
With plastic glide carriages, DryLin N is maintenance-free and completely resistant to corrosion.
It also requires no lubrication, which make it acceptable for the food industry.
The feeder is attached to the blister-sealing machine at a 45deg angle.
It has eight lanes of product being fed into the machine, in two rows of four lanes each.
Each lane holds a magazine of 80 mints.
Two opposing gates were added for each lane.
Two DryLin N rails, spaced 20.32 cm centre-to-centre, run perpendicular to the two rows of lanes.
The gates are mounted on plastic glide carriages at 8.255 cm intervals on the DryLin rails.
DryLin N was chosen especially for its compact size and low profile, to ensure the gates stay below the suction cups that grab the product and do not interfere with the process.
The gate opens and, while the suction cups grab the product, the stopper cylinders in the chute hold back the rest.
The eight mints are then fed into a product nest in the heat sealer where the rest of the packaging takes place.
"We needed to solve this problem fast," said D'Amico.
"The customer was losing valuable production time.
Igus responded immediately to our request and provided detailed technical input with a very short turnaround time on delivery.
DryLin N was a perfect fit in the tight space restriction of the feeder.
It was a low cost solution that kept right in line with Visual's reputation of delivering easy-to-justify solutions.
The system has been installed at the customer plant and is working flawlessly." Igus, igubal, iglidur, DryLin, Energy Chain Systems and Chainflex are registered trademarks of igus in the Federal Republic of Germany and in some foreign countries. Request a free brochure from Igus UK ...
All other company names and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
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