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Aug 05, 2023

Multi

Multi-Conveyor recently built two identical 20 ft long 4-lane, timing belt conveyors for an automotive component manufacturer to move individual parts prior to the paint process.

This content was written and submitted by the supplier. It has only been modified to comply with this publication’s space and style.

Each conveyor has four lanes of 1.5 in. wide stainless steel reinforced timing belts with vertical and horizontal adjustments.

George Packard, Account Manager at Multi-Conveyor, explains: “This is four (4) timing belt conveyors that replaces an existing system where the customer was pulling freshly molded parts from a robotic cell and needed a lot of adjustability - that’s why they came to us. The 4 lanes can be individually moved on the X and on the Z axis with plus or minus 6 in. on each of them, which is really important for things like bumper covers and other large plastic molded pieces so they could be supported before the plastic fully cures. Also the belt material is silicone free so we don’t contaminate the parts.”

Operators will modify each belt lane position on both axes using Independent hand wheel adjustments between runs as required. Threaded rods move the individual lanes closer together or further apart.

Packard continues: “These lanes, as they move in and out, are done by hand cranks. There are four (4) hand cranks that adjust the up and down or side-to-side motion. There are four (4) hand crank adjustments that will allow each lane to be individually raised or lowered.” (Packard points out the positioning of the hand cranks in this video.)

The hand cranks are equipped with counters that track positioning and provide quick reference points for various product sizes. Photo eyes were placed on the conveyor ends, triggering the conveyors to stop before parts can fall off the end.

Multi-Conveyor’s meticulous testing protocol ensures system accuracy. George continues to describe the installation, “As you can see, these legs are mounted inside the machine at a higher elevation so the legs themselves are shorter than these legs. For testing, we built a platform to 16 in. top of floor that allowed us to get the right angle to run their test product.”

Both systems are mounted on casters, allowing the operator to push (or pull) the conveyor assemblies into or out of position, or to remove them for easier robotic infeed tooling changes.

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