M930 Plastic Card Inspection System FAQ’s

Q: What if the Warp tool is failing excessively?
A:

  • Check to see if a card has fallen onto the mirror.
  • Adjust contrast setting in the warp tool:
    Open the warp tool in edit mode and adjust the contrast setting to get the best results. If the image is bright the contrast setting should be high, 25 to 35. If the image is dark, a lower value may be required.
  • Adjust corner locators.
    If one or more of the corner locators is triggering off something other than the corner of the card then you may need to adjust the location or length of the corner locator. Open the warp tool in edit mode and adjust the corner locators as needed.
  • Change location parameters: inside to outside, light to dark, etc.
    If one or more of the corner locators is triggering off something other than the card corner it can sometimes help to change these parameters.
  • Adjust part presents delay.
    The part presents delay controls when the camera and LED panels fire. Open the part presents screen and adjust the delay value in the top right corner of the screen. It’s best to adjust this value one number at a time, as it is very sensitive. Find the number, which gives you the best resulting image for all four stations on the picker.
  • Check and adjust picker stem timing
    Refer to section 3-11 of the Technical Manual.
  • Check carry vacuum.

The carry vacuum adjust regulates the amount of vacuum used to hold the card to the suction cups while the picture is taken. If this vacuum is too high for the card being inspected it will cause the card surface to distort. This could potentially result in a warp tool failure.

 

  • Strobe duration


Adjusting the duration of the strobe panel can help in some cases. To do this from the setup screen select the surface image. Then press “Geo Bus” and you will see multiple icons called pulsar or pulsar plus. One of these will be highlighted, select that icon. This will open the screen where you can adjust voltage and duration to the strobe panel. The duration should not exceed 200 ms and the voltage will not exceed 40.

 

  • Check to see that image is centered to the light source.


A quick way to see if your image is centered to the light source is to place a small object, like a dime, on the center of the light collimator lens. This will cause a visible shadow on the card image when running. The shadow should be at on near the center of the card. If the shadow is not centered on the card then the mirror and/or the camera position may need to be adjusted.

Q: What if cards that show rejected on the screen are not making it to the reject belt?
A:

  • Check the position of the air nozzles. They should be pointed slightly inward toward the conveyor.
  • Check to see if there is air coming out of the nozzles.
  • Check the reject delay timing. It should be 1000 greater than the pattern part presents delay Value. From the setup screen select the pattern image. Press “Part Tracking”, then “Part Presents”. In the upper right corner of the screen you will find the delay value. Record that value and return to the previous screen by touching the “X” button. Select “Reject”, again you will find the delay value in the upper right corner of the screen. Make sure that value is 1000 greater than the part presents value. i.e. if the part presents value is 1426 for instance then the reject delay should be 2426.
  • While in the reject screen, press the button named “Reject All”. Then start the machine and pick one card. If the card did not reject then you may have to reset the card slot value. Call Spartanics service for instructions.

 

Q: What if cards are not picking properly?
A:

  • Check to see there is sufficient system air pressure. Should maintain 80-psi min. at 12cfm while running.
  • Check the suction cups to see that they are not split, broken, folding under, or any other condition, which may diminish the seal. Replace if necessary.
  • Make sure the cups are contacting the cards on or near the card center. If the cups are too low or high on the card the card cannot flex properly on some laminates. This can cause the cups to release the card without pulling it from the loader. If you feel the contact is too low or high on the card then you will need to adjust the card loader rather than the cups. This adjustment is made on the front of the loader where the cards are put in. The support that locates the end of the loading rails and holds the bottom clips, must be raised or lowered. Then the support that holds the upper clips must be raised or lowered the same amount. Be sure to keep them square to the picker, not on an angle.
  • Check the upper and lower clip settings. The upper and lower clips may need to be adjusted from time to time. Keep in mind that these adjustments should be very small as they can greatly impact the ability to pick.
  • Check that the cups are all contacting the cards the same. Rotating the picker by hand bring a set of cups around to the position where the cups are contacting the card. Mark the card around the edge of the cup so you can determine if all the sets of cups are contacting the card in the same place. And that they are contacting at or near the center of the card. If you find one or more sets of cups to be out of position then the cup, or stem, timing must be corrected. Refer to section 3-11 of the Technical Manual.


Q: What if the picker is dropping cards prematurely?
A:

  • Check to see there is sufficient system air pressure. Should maintain 80-psi min. at 12cfm while running.
  • Check the suction cups to see that they are not split, broken, folding under, or any other condition, which may diminish the seal. Replace if necessary.
  • Check to see that there is vacuum present in all three rotary valve positions. Rotating the picker manually pick a card and check how firmly it is held to the cups. Continue rotating the picker and checking until the card has made it all the way around to the blow off station, This procedure should be performed on each set of cups to see if the problem is only in one set of cups or all three. If you find the problem occurs in only one set of cups then check for some sort of obstruction in that set which may cause a vacuum reduction. If you find the problem is common to all cup sets then you could try adjusting the carry vacuum.
  • If it appears that cards are being released immediately after being picked the timing of the vacuum solenoid may need to be adjusted. Slightly advancing or retarding the cross-shaped sensor actuator next to the cam wheel will change the timing. Be aware that a small adjustment can have a significant affect.
  • If the cards appear to be simply releasing prematurely just before blow off try adjusting the rotary valve position. Rotating the turnbuckle connection between the picker frame and the rotary valve does this. Try slightly advancing or retarding the valve position and see if the condition improves.

 

Q: What if the strobe light isn’t flashing for every card?
A:

  • While online, look at the alarms screen to see if it shows any missed parts or missed results. If you find missed parts or results it is an indication that the inspection is taking longer than the time available. When this happens the card is rejected simply because the inspection could not be completed. Often it is caused by something like the pattern locator ROI being too large, or placed over a hard to match area. If the ROI for the aligner tool is too large it can take excessively long to calculate the image alignment. Sometimes the resolution setting in the aligner tool can be changed from medium to low to decrease the time interval. Other errors in the program construction can cause these problems as well. Look over your program carefully to see if there are any differences from similar programs, which ran fine. If no errors were found in the program you may be able to correct the problem by simply slowing down the machine thus allowing more time per card.

 

 

  • Make sure the cards are passing under the sensor.

 

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