0:03

Hello, I'm Darren Green, Director of Marketing Communications for DESTACO. I would like to welcome you to today's session on extending the life of your DESTACO products to help minimize downtime. Our sales and engineers are asked on a daily basis a ton of different questions on how to select the right products and to maintain our products once they're installed in your application, so to help with that, we put together this series of how-to information addressing a lot of the common questions. Today we will cover areas regarding Robohand grippers, for instance, the proper sizing of a gripper, utilizing the right finger lengths on your grippers, and the impact the environment of the application you are using has on our grippers. For CAMCO conveyors and indexers we will talk about the aftermarket services and support available for your CAMCO products and we'll also talk about how to implement the right preventive maintenance program.

1:01

So I'd like to say thank you for joining us. Please - if you have any questions during this time, please ask your questions in the chat that is available during these sessions, and we'll be happy to answer them with one of our experts. Again, welcome to our session. Hi, this is Jim Geary. I'm the Engineering Manager for the Robohand product line at Destaco. I've been with the company almost 30 years now so I have a lot of history in how our products last. We know that we have products in the field that last a very long time. There are products in the field from when I started with a company still running, and for most businesses, it's important to keep your product running because that's what's making money. Downtime is expensive, so one of the things that we've always done is had a 5 million cycle life designed into the product - as long as you're within the actual specifications that the product is recommended for.

2:00

You should easily meet the 5 million cycle life, however; if you do preventative maintenance at 5 million cycles, and we do sell seal kits and maintenance kits to do this, and they are fully field repairable, that you can break them down, rebuild them, re-grease them, change the seals - and you're good to go. They should last up to 10 million cycles, and or beyond that - and again, that has a lot to do with sizing the product properly. If you do have a scheduled maintenance, we recommend it to be every 5 million cycles if you're going to schedule it, but there are some ways to cheat it a little bit, and one way to do that is to just add a drop of oil to the inlet port and the outlet port of each of the grippers or each of the gripper ports.

3:00

And what will happen is the air will carry that lubrication into the gripper and that will extend your life for quite a while without having to actually take the gripper off the product or off your machine, and so you won't have downtime with that. So again, the sizing is really important. The idea is that we give specifications in the catalog to guide you to the right application and guide you to the right product. If we can get you that, then you should have no problems at all. That's the idea, to just have no issues. Install it, and let it run and let it keep running, so there are a couple of identifiers that you're going to need to define when you're doing specification for a gripper. Essentially - they're part weight, part geometry, air pressure available at the point of use, and that sometimes is quite a bit less than it is at the compressor.

4:00

You should try to measure at a point of use, particularly if you're using small valves or small air lines, you know that happens with a lot of very small products. People will use a smaller airline. You want to make sure that you're working in the pressure range that you're expecting and that you're specifying the part. Geometry comes into play, mainly with fingers and how your fingers hold the part, and we'll talk about that in a little bit, but the other thing is the part weight is going to be important. You do need to know about the part weight, depending upon the way that you're gripping it, and then what's the finger length. How can you shorten the length of the fingers again? With that discussion about finger length, that will be coming-up. You'll see that it is extremely important to stay within the boundaries of the finger length. The greater the finger length, the less life of the gripper. That's what's going to fail if you have a problem with that, so we talk about when you're gripping a part.

5:00

We have a couple different ways to do that, and you would have a simple gripping where you're gripping a part by friction which would just be two flat faces coming-in and picking-up the part. And the only thing that's holding that up is friction itself. The next would be cradling, and to give you kind of an idea what that would be is, if you're holding a cup, and that cup were held by your hands, you're coming around the part and you're taking into account the shape of the part, and that has a lower factor of safety, so you can use a smaller gripper for that because you don't need as much force to hold it. And then finally, encapsulation. Encapsulation is essentially where you're coming around the part, and no matter whether the gripper opens or closed, or excuse me, if you lose pressure or anything like, that you will not have the part drop out of the gripper. And that is the type of situation you want to try to go for because you can use a much smaller gripper and which will save you money, and you'll have the ability to reduce the size in-general, the cost, and so forth - and the safety that you will not drop the part.

6:00

So never use a gripper that's on the edge of its specifications. It's one of those things where, unless you're in a situation where weight is absolutely critical, you have to have the smallest gripper possible. Then you can work with our engineering team, and we can try to find you the right gripper. In a lot of cases, it comes down to perhaps adding devices or ways of adding friction to your fingers. By adding friction, you can actually pick-up with a smaller gripper a bigger part, and that's simple to do. That's just adding urethane pads, or something like that, so in those situations where you have to have a really small product and you want it to last a long time, the best way to do that is to make sure you stay within the specifications and use our product selector, Robo-sizer, which will help take you to the right gripper.

7:01

And if you're in a situation where you're not certain, contact our tech support team. They're ready to help you. Thank you. Good day everyone, my name is Anthony Seppey and I'm the Technical Inside Sales Rep for DESTACO. I'd like to discuss with you finger length when sizing your gripper for your application. When designing your gripper, you need to understand this, the exerting force or applied force of the gripper never changes, but the length of the fingers will change the amount of force being applied to the part. I always give my customers one of two scenarios. If you ever try taking two sticks as a kid, and you try to reach-out and grab something with those sticks, and you have a hard time picking them up. But if you grab your hands, it's easier.

8:01

What about if you took a box and you stuck your arms out try to grab it and lift it up. In that same box you bring close to your body and try to lift it up, it's easier to lift it up with your arms close to your body than if it is away from you. The same applies to grippers. The farther away the gripper’s contact is being applied, the less force is being applied to the part, the higher the risk of losing the part. Long fingers destroy grippers. They act like a crowbar in the gripper bearing support. Next - you have to take moment load into consideration. Moment loads act in the opposite direction of the gripper. Gravity moment loads will actually try to act against, or push open, the fingers. So the longer the fingers, the easier the moment load is to apply pressure. At DESTACO we offer the Robo-sizer program, and you can also utilize our catalogs which provide help to assist in determining the correct gripper or free application, based on air pressure and finger length.

9:01

If we look at the slide, the customer was using 60 PSI, two and a half inch finger length, which gives them 12 pounds of force. As you can see by the large solid lines, as your finger length increases, your grip force decreases. So you want to keep in mind, always, have shorter, smaller fingers - the better. So in closing, remember, determining correct finger length will prolong the life of the gripper, keep the product or material safe, and your employees safe. Have a great day. Hi, this is Jim Geary. I'm the Engineering Manager for the Robohand product line at DESTACO.

10:01

I'm here to talk about product environment and how it affects the life of products. Over the years, we've developed a wide range of gripper products for the market, and in many cases, they were all originally designed for the industrial environment which is very typical for gripper use. As time progressed, more and more applications and things like pharmaceuticals, or areas that are very dirty, like foundry operations and so forth, have required having grippers specialized to work in those types of environments. So one of the things when we talk about environments, people will talk about a “normal environment”. The problem there is that normal is relative. I'll give you an example. We had a customer call. He had a problem with his gripper working, and so we asked him, he says, “Oh, no. It's just a normal application.” But when you got right down to it, what you found was he was using it in a degreasing application.

11:01

So he was actually picking up a basket of parts, dunking the gripper into the fluid, and pulling it back out. Of-course it's degreasing the gripper as well, so you need to think about it when you're talking about “normal.” You need to really think that maybe it isn't as normal as you think, so one of the things we do is we generally define them into those areas of “normal” and then extremes. Extremes can be essentially “very clean”, like a cleanroom environment for electronics, pharmaceutical, medical - that sort of thing, then “extremely dirty” which can be foundry, painting applications, deburring, and things like brick blasting, and those sorts of things. What's interesting to note is that the grippers that are good for clean are also really great for the really dirty and that's because they're shielded and sealed in such way that they don't gum-up, get stuck full of particulate or that sort of thing.

12:01

So back to considering your environment. Take into account that when we talk about industrial these days, we're talking about something that general industrial is probably the cleanest standard these days. If you go into any high-end plant, they're going to have a very clean environment just because that's how they're running their shop. But those who are running in a dirty environment, or if you need something that's clean, you probably know that as well. If we take a look at the extremes, let's talk about dirty environments first. One of the things that you've got for dirty environments, again, is an extra level of shielding to keep any dirt or contaminants, those sorts of things, out of the gripper. You want to make sure that you can expel particles and debris. Now - you might also have situations where you're in a corrosive environment.

13:01

Again, as I had mentioned with the degreasing application, there are some situations where our customers are in a corrosive environment, and so you want to take that into account. Our grippers are, particularly the ones designed for the rough environments, all corrosion-free exteriors. Again, dangerous materials is another consideration that you need to take into account when you're specifying a gripper. So in a dirty environment, what we recommend is using purge air into that gripper, and any of these grippers that are designed for these extreme environments will already have an air port in it that you can add compressed air to it. What that does is it pressurizes the inside, not of the air cylinder, the air cylinder has its own air feed - but within the mechanism, you can pressurize that area and then on the places where dirt could normally get in.

14:01

It is stopped by the air that's being pushed out of the gripper, so that's why we call it “purging.” It's pushing air out and making it very difficult, or nearly impossible, for dirt to get back in. So when you're thinking about working in a dirty environment, you want to use one of these extreme environment grippers, but keep in-mind that your best bet is to be able to use that purge air. It's going to keep it clean. Conversely, if you're looking for a clean application, and our standard gripper is off-the-shelf, you can get to cleanroom class 4 ISO or class 10, which is the old style. Class 4 cleanroom applications, again, this is for food, medical, pharma, and electronics - those sorts of things. The difference is, and again we're talking in many cases the exact same gripper that you would use in a dirty environment, using that same one in a clean environment.

15:01

And the key here is that ability to put, in this particular case, instead of pressure that you would put in for a purge environment - you're pulling vacuum on the mechanism of the gripper, and what happens there is that keeps any dirt or debris or grease or outgassing of greases, or those sorts of things, away from the environment. Instead, the air is pulled into the gripper so the air that's in the cleanroom that you're working in is being drawn into the gripper, so that any particulate that could possibly come out of the gripper is being drawn back into the gripper and vacuumed away. That really helps in those situations where you're looking for, and again this is from a maintenance standpoint, it's similar to the general product guidelines of 5 million cycles until you want to do a scheduled maintenance. But if you're in those environments and the extreme environments, make sure that you take the time to look into the purge or the scavenge feature of the product.

16:01

It'll really help increase its life tremendously, and then finally we can do specialized products. We've done literally thousands of specials over the years, and we have probably done just for specialized environments, I'm going to say, about a third of anything that we've done in specials is for specialized environments. We're very willing to work with you. We have a tech support team that you can talk to and work-out what makes sense for your particular application, your environment, and so forth. So take the time and look into it, and we can certainly help you with that. Hi, my name is Ravi Shivanna, Global Engineering Manager for DESTACO Camco.

17:00

DESTACO Camco offers a variety of indexers and conveyors for automation solutions. We are the only Camco and Ferguson experts that can provide repair, rebuild, and maintenance services on original Camco and Ferguson products. We have experienced professionals for repair, rebuild, and warranty services for the Camco and Ferguson products. Take advantage of our experienced, factory-employed, field service specialists. We are dependable. We are the only source for authorized service on Camco and Ferguson products. We are flexible. You can send your unit to us, or we can come to your plant to perform a repair or a full rebuild. We are accessible. We can assist you with ordering replacement parts and provide economical repair and maintenance service.

18:00

Our technicians have a minimum of 15 years of experience to ensure the products, indexers, and conveyors are working for a long time and their lifespan is being improved. We need to ensure that we implement a preventative maintenance plan. The preventative maintenance plan extends equipment lifespan while minimizing potential downtime due to equipment failure that could have been avoided with prior detection. Some of the benefits you get as an end user of this product is that, for indexers and conveyors, we can get an improved equipment and system reliability - elimination of unforeseen breakdowns, decreased risk of expensive components or system replacements, prolonged equipment lifespan, and better parts inventory management.

19:00

Make sure you change the oil in the indexer, as per the guidance that is provided in the service manual, so that the lifespan of the product stays longer; thereby, the precision and the reliability of the product is also longer. The second most important thing is to identify the common causes of system breakdown, so that the lifespan of the product can be increased. If there is a certain failure of the equipment, we recommend customers to buy a spare unit as the repair time for an indexer can be usually higher, depending upon the extent of damage. Please refer to our service manual for storing of the units on-shelf. Have spare units on the shelf as a replacement unit, in-case of any sudden failures. One regular recommendation for the units that is stored on the shelf is make sure that the input is cycled for a specified number of cycles in such a way that the cam does not get damaged, and the seal also would remain safe.

20:00

In the common causes of system breakdown, there is something called as “intermittent failure.” We need to identify the causes of this intermittent failure, whether this is inherent to Camco products or this is caused by an external product that is working in the vicinity of an indexers or conveyor. This could be due to vibration or a few other causes. This could be a small reason, like due to a loosely coupled shaft or the length to diameter ratio of the input shaft being coupled to the motor is a little longer than the design specification. The third important failure aspect is the “gradual failure” which is mostly in our hands.

21:00

The reason is if we chalk out a good plan of having a preventative maintenance plan, we should avoid these kind of failures. This failure can be avoided by having periodic maintenance scheduled, or having our experienced personnel make assessments and suggest replacement of certain parts to increase the lifespan. We repair it like a new condition and offer the standard warranty also on the repair, as well as the rebuilt product. Visit with our experienced professionals, or they can also visit your site to do a preventative maintenance. Appointments need to be scheduled by visiting our website, calling, or getting in-touch with our sales colleagues.

21:59

The third most important thing about increasing the lifespan of the product is by increasing your product knowledge. Getting to know your machinery, inside and out, is one of the best ways to ensure that you can implement a preventative maintenance program that is best suited to your equipment. Refer to the service manual, as it offers valuable troubleshooting information. Please visit our website, destaco.com, to get ahold of service manuals. The fourth most important thing to increase the lifespan is to keep record of your machinery service history. Documenting your equipment service history will give you a better idea of the type of problems you can expect from heavy-duty components. A simple way of doing this is to keep a book in the machine itself, containing the date, type of service performed, parts that were replaced, any observed irregularities, and a date of the next scheduled service.

23:01

Contact us to schedule your preventative maintenance, get a repair, or rebuilding of our products, or order replacement parts - you can call us on 888-DESTACO. You can also email us on customerservice@destaco.com or please visit www.destaco.com for more information. Hi, my name is Ray Tynczuk. I'm with the DESTACO engineering department and I'm here today to talk about how to extend the life of your DESTACO indexing products. I know the focus typically on these kind of things is proper maintenance, which is obviously very important.

24:00:00

Proper maintenance and lubrication, and all the stuff that you'll find in our service manuals is important, but I'm going to back-up a little bit and talk about the first step, from my perspective, is proper sizing and application review. That's critical to a long life indexing product. Accurately reporting the weights, the inertias, how you're going to use it in the environment - all these things are crucial to properly sizing and designing around a long life for an indexing product. Even if you don't have all of your designs, if they're even just preliminary hand sketches, or proper descriptions of the size of the tooling that you're indexing or the shape of the tooling, is all critical.

25:03:00

We could always schedule a later review once you've finalized your design. We'll be happy to review it all over again just to make sure that we're in a properly sized index drive. We do use safety factors, but I would always recommend a second review, or final review, of your design once it's complete. Equally important is not only the weights and the index times, but also what type of environment is the application running in. Is it wet? Is it a cleanroom? Is it a dirty, dusty environment? All these things, we can, once the index is sized, determine how to prepare the index. We can plate it. We can use special paints, special oils, and seals. All these things will work towards a long life and an index drive product.

26:00:00

Then once you do commission it, do not exceed the data sheet parameters unless you contact us and see what kind of effect that's going to have. A very common thing to do is, if it’s running great, “I think I want to speed it up a little bit.” That alone can greatly shorten the life of an index drive. A little change in timing can affect the torque demand on the index by a factor of four, so it's very important that you keep a good relationship with the DESTACO applications team. We're always happy to talk to you directly. It's never a problem. Pick-up the phone. We'll be happy to discuss any changes to your application.

27:02:00

E-stopping is also very common out there. Make sure you report this application phase if you're going to e-stop or not. We try to account for that and simulate it in our sizing. We'll also probably recommend one of our mechanical overload clutches, too. That's the best defense against jamming and e-stopping. Current limiting works too, but we have found that you can still damage an index drive if that's not done properly. Mechanical overload is very reliable in fixture and tool design. Basically - if when you're screwing things down, don't rely just on clamping force. We recommend using bell pins to secure the load.

28:00:00

Even a little bit of shifting can cause undesirable effects on accuracy and on the quality of the index. Shaking can have some effect on life too if it's continuous. If you're going to use belt drives and pulleys to drive auxiliary equipment, make sure the line shafts are properly designed so that we don't have torsional deflection that causes shaking, unpredictable vibration, and torque. Properly size your belt drives the pulleys. Use the largest pulleys that space will allow, so there's a good amount of belt wrap around the pulley. And finally - use only the recommended oil and grease. We have standard traditional, conventional oils and also synthetic oils. Several applications we typically recommend the specific oil, a synthetic oil.

29:01:00

Also - report when you're commissioning these things. Report unusual vibration or shaking. That's usually a sign that either the load that you're putting on the indexer is not what we've talked about at the application stage, or maybe there's something wrong inside too. Contact our service department if your index drive will be stored for any extended period of time. Say you bought a spare or you're not quite ready to build or tool it up yet, we have some recommended measures you can take in our service manual. You can download that off the website, and again, follow all the proper maintenance schedules that we suggest in the service manual.

30:00:00

That's all I have for today. If you have any questions, you can contact DESTACO engineering. We'll be happy to discuss your application and look forward to hearing from you in the future. Thank you for listening. Well, hopefully you were able to learn a lot in those sessions that we provided regarding extending the life of DESTACO products and minimizing your downtime.