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  • Where did you get a stainless cam? More importantly, how much did it cost? The plastic one we just replaced costed $1000.

    Originally posted by TGTimm View Post
    off when the shaft spins freely? Not to mention, who has the tool to remove it? We decided to remove the cam and shaft as one piece. Not a great idea, but it worked.

    [ATTACH]28036[/ATTACH]

    That assembly weighs well in excess of two hundred pounds. My back hurts.

    Well, I've hit my limit for attachments in this post, and I think it's beer-thirty. More later.
    eatdrinkandbemerry
    Jon Hill, Brewer
    Atlantic Brewing Co
    jon at atlanticbrewing dot com

    Comment


    • Originally posted by bennybrew View Post
      Where did you get a stainless cam? More importantly, how much did it cost? The plastic one we just replaced costed $1000.
      Ours was $3200 back in January when we did our overhaul.


      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
      Nate Jackson
      Packaging Manager
      Marble Brewery
      Albuquerque, NM

      Comment


      • Yeah, ours was about that much, too. As I recall, we were told that the plastic one wasn't available anymore-I guess that was wrong!

        Since you can replace the plastic cam three times for the cost of one SS one, and it's much easier to replace (the SS cam weighs 175 lb, and you can get a pipe wrench on that miserable left-hand nut with the plastic cam), I'd be tempted to use the plastic one and replace it every few years.

        If you leave the cam guard (big tin can) off when you replace the cam, it's much easier and safer to clean and lube the groove in the cam. Keeping this clean and lubricated should make that plastic cam last much longer.
        Timm Turrentine

        Brewerywright,
        Terminal Gravity Brewing,
        Enterprise. Oregon.

        Comment


        • Crown sensor adjustment?

          My turn to ask a dumb question.

          We just got new crowns--no one told me, bottling day, the upper crown sensor doesn't seem to be able to see them. We just ran anyway, vibrator going full time, and burned out the vibrator motor. Fortunately, I had a spare--an hour or so, back to the old crowns, and we're back up and running.

          So, the old crowns have a whitish lining, no printing. The new crowns have a near transparent ling, with black printing (but, damn it, not a rebus like I asked for). I tried adjusting the sensor, but got exactly nowhere--either the vibrator ran constantly, or not at all.

          Any suggestion for where to start on this? I tried moving the sensor closer to the crowns, and fiddled with the sensitivity, but we need to fill pallets and send the bottle slaves back to their cribs.

          I'll be screwing with this tomorrow, and would greatly appreciate any suggestions.
          Timm Turrentine

          Brewerywright,
          Terminal Gravity Brewing,
          Enterprise. Oregon.

          Comment


          • Originally posted by TGTimm View Post

            Any suggestion for where to start on this? I tried moving the sensor closer to the crowns, and fiddled with the sensitivity, but we need to fill pallets and send the bottle slaves back to their cribs.

            I'll be screwing with this tomorrow, and would greatly appreciate any suggestions.
            I ran into this problem on a large printing press, after they changed to soy ink. The color of the sensor light was not reflected as well, and the lens was scratched badly. In my case, pointing the sensor to another area helped, but that probably won't help you.

            However, I know you love to keep spares, so possibly you have another sensor laying on the shelf somewhere...maybe it uses a different color that will reflect better.

            Or, if you can invert the signal, and use retroreflective tape on the other side of the crown, so it turns on when it sees a return signal instead of off, or vice versa. But whether you can do that depends on the sensor. If this is a diffuse proximity sensor, retroreflection won't work, unless you can swap the sensor out for another kind.

            Can the sensor be mounted on the other side of the crown track, and look at the crown from the other side?

            It's probably of no help, but...it's all I can think of.

            Mike

            Comment


            • Ah, never mind. I guess this is the sensor? http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8387/8...18e92eb6_b.jpg

              It doesn't look like any of my ideas will work here, unless you can change the angle slightly and maybe get better reflectance. Is it possible to adjust the gain on it?

              Mike

              Comment


              • Thanks, Mike.

                It's the sensor at the top of the caps channel--the one that calls for the vibrator to turn on, but it's the same sensor. But I will need to check the one in your photo, too--if that one doesn't "see" the crowns, we could have a lot of un-crowned bottles.

                These are retro-reflective IR sensors, so, unfortunately, I can't see the beam (might be able to use my camera to visualize it). I think screwing with the distance/angle will do the job--the sensitivity (gain?) setting is very finicky, just a tiny fraction of a turn from always on to always off. I called AWS Prospero--no real help there. Guess I'll just mess with it until I get it right.

                And now, for the obligatory warning:

                If the vibrator runs constantly, fix it! It took about 3 hours with the vibrator running non-stop to burn out the motor (big red coil thing under the crowns hopper). Replacement cost is $1422.06! If you push it hard enough, you may burn out the driver board, which, IIRC, cost about $3k. Fortunately, the fuses saved our board this time.
                Last edited by TGTimm; 01-15-2016, 10:29 AM.
                Timm Turrentine

                Brewerywright,
                Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                Enterprise. Oregon.

                Comment


                • Originally posted by TGTimm View Post

                  These are retro-reflective IR sensors, so, unfortunately, I can't see the beam (might be able to use my camera to visualize it). [...]
                  As I recall, green beams are better able to see things in our visual spectrum. The problem with IR is that it might be getting absorbed by the new liner, even if it's clearish in our visual range. I have a tiny IR camera I can lend you. It's more of a thermal camera (from FLIR), and I'm not sure it would see the sensor's light...I'll have to ask my sister about that; I got it from her.

                  But if you want to try, I can mail it to you. It's smaller than a GoPro, easy to mail.

                  Regards,
                  Mike

                  Comment


                  • Thanks, Mike--I think I can just use an IR low-pass filter (which I have around here somewhere) on my Nikon DSLR as it has no high-pass filter.

                    Looking at how those sensors work, I don't think they're aimed at the liner of the crown--it seems they're "seeing" the rim of the crown. I'll get back to this after lunch.
                    Timm Turrentine

                    Brewerywright,
                    Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                    Enterprise. Oregon.

                    Comment


                    • Weird... the sensor can "see" the edges of our old crowns--slightly goldish in color--but not the new ones--silver in color. I'm thinking the sensor needs replacement.

                      But... this sensor, Telemecanique XU5-M18MA230, costs $400 from Prospero. Look on the internet, it's ~$100-$140! Long lead time if you need one, and this should be in your critical spares box. I'm sure that by checking some x-refs, it could be found even cheaper, as these are common sensors (24-240VAC diffuse IR proximity sensor 40mm range, 2-wire, 18mm dia).
                      Timm Turrentine

                      Brewerywright,
                      Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                      Enterprise. Oregon.

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by TGTimm View Post
                        Weird... the sensor can "see" the edges of our old crowns--slightly goldish in color--but not the new ones--silver in color. I'm thinking the sensor needs replacement.

                        But... this sensor, Telemecanique XU5-M18MA230, costs $400 from Prospero. Look on the internet, it's ~$100-$140! Long lead time if you need one, and this should be in your critical spares box. I'm sure that by checking some x-refs, it could be found even cheaper, as these are common sensors (24-240VAC diffuse IR proximity sensor 40mm range, 2-wire, 18mm dia).
                        Yeesh. I see several suppliers with that sensor at a much lower price, but they're all 2-5 weeks lead time. Amazon has it for $138, but 3-5 weeks lead! http://www.amazon.com/Telemecanique-.../dp/B00CON8YDG

                        2 wire AC sensors seem fairly rare...most are 3 and 4 wire DC with PNP or NPN outputs, designed for PLCs (which is what I use), and they're cheap as heck (about 6 bucks on Amazon, and $10-60 with automation direct).

                        If you wanted to do some rewiring, so as to use a 4 wire DC PNP (sourcing) or NPN (sinking) device, these are nice. IP69, food/bev service: http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/...s=%22100+mm%22

                        I'm not sure that these would directly drive inductive loads like the coil of a small relay, but you can check with Automation Direct. The spec sheet PDF has the wiring diagrams (Diagram 3 or 4). You can select NC or NO, which is what the 4th wire is for. Of course, you'd need DC control voltage, so this may be more hassle than it's worth.

                        Good luck!
                        Mike

                        Comment


                        • Yeah, that lead time is why it's a good idea to order one or two NOW and keep them in the spares box... there are two of these on the Arol crowner, and both are mission-critical--can't bottle without 'em. If you have spare on hand, change-out and calibration is a few minutes and you're back at it. I found one place that can have one to me in < a week, the other in a couple of weeks.

                          Not too sure about going with a four-wire sensor, 'though it's tempting. I'll have to look at the schematics.
                          Timm Turrentine

                          Brewerywright,
                          Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                          Enterprise. Oregon.

                          Comment


                          • You have a slightly older machine than we do, but these are the sensors that came with our GAI.



                            It's a 5 wire connection instead of 4 and mounts differently, so I'm not sure if you could swap it out easily, but it has a teach button on top so you can tell when there are crowns in the channel. We didn't have any issues when we switched crown suppliers a while back.
                            Last edited by Nate Jackson; 01-17-2016, 02:38 PM.
                            Nate Jackson
                            Packaging Manager
                            Marble Brewery
                            Albuquerque, NM

                            Comment


                            • Thanks, Nate. Our machine is a 2006 vintage.

                              I fond the sensors we need at Gordon Electric. Ships in 3-5 days--ours should go out on Friday. $135 each--I ordered two.



                              Now to get spares for the two sensors on the filler--these seem to be inductive proximity sensors.
                              Timm Turrentine

                              Brewerywright,
                              Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                              Enterprise. Oregon.

                              Comment


                              • A crowner miracle!

                                Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers

                                While screwing around with all the other problems our crowner was having last week, I noticed that the vibration isolators--those rubber things between the Tecno Vibrazioni and the top plate of the crowner (known to Tom @ AWS CA as "rubber baby buggy bumpers" (gotta be over 50 to get that one))--were worn, slightly crooked, and, in one case, partially torn. So I replaced them. No time to search for options, just got 'em from AWS Pros.

                                I went to check the crown feed out today as I knew replacing those would need some tweaking on the vibro driver--I tweaked the frequency a little, and, lo and behold--I can't recall ever seeing the crowns feed so fast and well!

                                If you're having problems with the crown feed keeping up or vibrator running too much, replace the rubber baby buggy bumpers!
                                Timm Turrentine

                                Brewerywright,
                                Terminal Gravity Brewing,
                                Enterprise. Oregon.

                                Comment

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