Even the best equipment doesn't last forever. Whether your process changes as your business grows, or you've simply used your equipment to the point of breaking down, eventually you're going to need an upgrade. Tuff Automation can help with that. Engine manufacturer Cummins found themselves in need of just such an upgrade. Their 20-year-old equipment was no longer meeting the task of moving their product.
Read MoreA more durable alternative to scissor lifts. /
High-cycle lift processes don’t have to mean short equipment lifespans. Pneumatic lifts are a long-lasting, cost-effective alternative to scissor lifts, and they’re a perfect high-cycle solution. Ordinary scissor lifts are rated for a lifetime of approximately 200,000 cycles. The vertically mounted cylinders on our pneumatic lifts make possible a lifetime of several million cycles. If your application exceeds a cycle time of 45 cycles per hour or 500 cycles per day, you’ll see the return on investment on a pneumatic lift in no time.
Read MoreTuff Automation does robots /
Robotics is a growing field in automation that's been making complex and delicate processes more efficient and precise. Robots are widely becoming more popular in material handling processes, but many hesitate to incorporate them into their processes due to the investment they require upfront. We’re here to tell you that in the face of rising costs and liabilities incurred by using personnel, the investment pays off.
Read MoreBuilding a Slat Conveyor /
The conveyor is part of an assembly line. It moves multiple axles, the heaviest of which can weigh 1600 pounds, down the line as operators gradually add components. This rugged conveyor is equipped to carry massively heavy loads in an industrial environment. It also comes with a touch screen interface to customize conveyor operation, track units through each production cell, and identify any conveyor faults.
Read MoreProduct Spotlight: The Ultra-Quiet Electronic Pusher /
We always enjoy coming up with cutting edge solutions for our integration partner Cisco-Eagle. This time around, we created a pusher that runs so quietly you can barely hear it.
How it works
The unit was intended to push small product in RSC cases, sized 4.5” x 7.75” x 3”, into a Gaylord dunnage basket from a Hytrol E24 conveyor. Mounted to the side of the conveyor, the unit would push a max of 20 half-pound to one pound parts per minute. The customer requested that the pusher be no louder than 63 decibels. The Tuff Automation standard pneumatic pusher is not much louder than that as is, but we decided to take this opportunity to develop a “rotational pusher assembly” that operates much more quietly.
How is it so quiet?
Because it works without a valve, and because there's no impact, much of the noise of a standard pneumatic pusher is completely eliminated in this electronic pusher. Simple VFD motor controls are actuated to get the pusher moving, and once it's going it completes one cam-actuated divert per every motor rotation. The design is robust and very simple to control. A unit like this could be easily incorporated into any small item sortation application.
Going above and beyond
For this project, in addition to the pusher, Tuff also provided turnkey controls, drawings, and programming for the installation of the entire system scope. You can check out a video of the unit quietly in motion here.
Interested in a product like this or want to learn more about custom solutions from Tuff? Contact us.