The machine will consist of a table with a rotating nest for the end cap, and a sliding carriage that will support the dispense head. 

 

The table will support the dial to spin the end caps. A motor mounted below the table will spin the dial with a pair of pulleys and a timing belt. A large opening in the table with buckets positioned below will allow the dispense head to purge and flush the filling material. The buckets will sit on a series of conveyor rollers for ease of unloading heavily filled buckets. Sheet metal will surround the buckets on three sides to reduce any mess from splashing or dripping. A spray shield at the purge and flush positions will lift into position to help shield the spray from the dispenser during these operations. The shield will be made of a PVC pipe or similar disposable material and will be easy to replace. All surfaces likely to come in contact with the filling material will be made from stainless steel for ease of cleaning and maintaining the system.

  

The sliding carriage will be pneumatically driven with multiple stop positions to allow one position for pouring, one position for purge, and one position for flushing. The pouring position will have a manually operated crank to adjust the end stop position. A small digital readout will display the stop position on a hand crank for repeatable set ups. The carriage will support the dispensing head on an adjustable mounting bracket. A manually adjustable crank will allow the operator to adjust the height of the dispenser up and down by an inch in each direction. The existing style dispenser will be mounted on an adjustable swing arm mounted to the table. This swing arm will allow the operator to move the existing dispenser out of the way for when the new material is being used. The various hoses, cables and tubes will be supported from above by an attachment point on the guarding.

 

The controls will consist of an Allen Bradley Compact Logix Dual series PCL with a 6” grayscale HMI. The PLC will control the machine and send signals to the dispensing equipment as required to actuate the pouring cycle. The HMI will allow the operators to select and adjust parameters for table turn speed; dispense time, and the number of pours between purge cycles. A start button will tell the machine to start a pour. The machine will constantly spin the turn table at the selected speed, when the operator presses the foot pedal, the machine will dispense for the selected time, and then stop. The PLC will count the time between pours and the number of cycles. After a set time or number of cycles is reached, the machine will alert the operator and initiate a purge cycle to prevent the filling material from curing in the dispense head.