Challenge
Design an automated time and date stamp process for a plastic injection-molded product.
Solution
A Matthews e-SolarMark 30-watt CO2 laser, custom fixtures, a Cognex In-Sight 2000, and custom lighting.
Story
A large injection molding house needed a better time and date stamp on one of its plastic container and lid products. The time and date inserts had been embedded in the mold itself for tracking, which was not very accurate, and the customer preferred to mark the container and lid after molding.
For the container, the customer installed a robot to pull the part out of the mold and place it on a conveyor. The EMP engineering team designed a fixture that positions a Matthews e-SolarMark CO2 laser over the conveyor to mark each part with the exact time and date as it passes. Because the stamp is critical, EMP added a Cognex In-Sight 2000 with custom lighting to verify that every mark was made.
The lid also needed the time and date. There was no good way to automate the lid line and space was very limited, so EMP designed a fixture for manually inserting the lid into the laser marking system, and fit the laser controller, fume extractor, and PLC controls into the small designated area.
The project was built and tested in the EMP shop, a virtual runoff was done by video, and both marking systems were delivered within 30 days of kickoff. The engineers at EMP made sure the project solved all of the customer’s needs.
EMP can help with your laser marking project, or any marking, data collection, machine vision, or RFID project. Contact us today.
