Drives & Controls April 2022

46 n MACHINE-BUILDING April 2022 www.drivesncontrols.com Pallet-making machine saves eight minutes on every job T he Dutch manufacturer Vlakkelichtkoepel specialises in custom-made skylights and roof lights, each of which needs a custom-sized wooden pallet for packing and transportation. Previously, the company measured and assembled the pallets by hand on the floor, which took up considerable space and time. With more than 10 pallets being produced every day, Vlakkelichtkoepel decided it wanted to make the pallets more efficiently and thus save time and money. It has introduced a pallet-making machine that takes up less space than the previous process and is much quicker. Each pallet is now produced about eight minutes faster, resulting in savings of around £4,500 per year. Previously, Vlakkelichtkoepel staff had to cut the bottom and top slats to length for each pallet. With each type of roof having more than 900 size variants, considerable variation was needed with the measurements. The bottom rails were first laid out on the floor and two holes were pre-drilled at each end of the top slats. The top laths were then laid out on the bottom laths and screwed into place. Measurements were taken diagonally to get the pallets into the hook. The top laths were then unscrewed. All of this happened on the floor, which not only required considerable space, but was also uncomfortable for the operators. “We wanted to save time by not having to manually measure the distances of the bottom and top slats, and not having to measure the squareness of the pallet,”explains Vlakkelichtkoepel engineer, Jos Heijden.“We also wanted the new system to be ergonomically better so that employees do not have to work on the floor. A final requirement was for all size variants to be made by one person.” The new process is markedly different to the previous set-up. It uses an adjustable vertical pallet frame to assemble the various sized wooden pallets. When designing the new system, Vlakkelichtkoepel contacted the linear motion specialist HepcoMotion, with which it had worked before, to discuss the application. Hepco’s aluminiumMCS profiles form the rigid base for the frame, while a dozen of its PDU2 belt-driven linear actuators provide the adjustment needed to accommodate the different pallet sizes. The actuators are mounted vertically onto an MCS frame, arranged in three columns with four actuators one above another in each column. The actuators are configured to allow for bespoke pallet sizing and designs, with a choice of positions for the intermediate battens. The actuators in each row are connected by a shaft to ensure that they work synchronously. A handwheel on the side adjusts the three interconnected actuators, thus altering the horizontal height of the wooden slats. The four actuators adjust the position of the outside and intermediate dimensions, allowing the battens to be fixed in the best position for each pallet. The lubrication-free actuators need little maintenance, ensuring long service lives. They can also be supplied in left, right or double- shaft configurations, making it easy to link them together and control them via the handwheel. Vlakkelichtkoepel worked closely with HepcoMotion to determine the length of actuators needed to accommodate the range of slat sizes required. 3D CAD models were created, with the parts being ordered from model. The new process eliminates several steps, saving time and improving accuracy.“It is no longer necessary to measure in the hook, because the bottom slats are on the left and the installation side is 90° square,”Heijden explains.“The bottom rails no longer need to be measured, as they are flexibly set by the machine. Also, the top laths no longer need to be measured as they are placed at a fixed distance against the mounted lips. And lastly, we no longer need to pre-drill the holes, as the top laths are secured with a nail stapler.” The new machine is fast and accurate compared to the previous process, allowing pallets of any size to be made by a single operator. And with the pallet machine saving £4,500 per year, its cost was recouped rapidly. n A Dutch manufacturer of skylights is saving £4,500 a year by moving from a time-consuming manual process for producing customised pallets, to a dedicated machine that uses belt-driven actuators. Vlakkelichtkoepel’s pallet-making machine is saving money and space for the Dutch skylight manufacturer