CNC 5 axis Machine with Auto palletizer Case Study

This custom guarding project was completed at the customer’s plant in Reno, Nevada, for a client which is the leading manufacturer of gate and custom valves for various industries. They contacted us because they had a  CNC 5 axis machine with auto palletizer that needed to be safeguarded.

After careful examination of this this particular equipment, our expert engineering team was able to come up a safeguarding solution that would best suit the customers productivity standards and still meet and exceed all safety regulations including ANSI B11 and OSHA 1910 . The safety solution we provided included custom made safety guards and doors that would prevent the operator from reaching into any pinch point or moving parts such as the tool changer and palletizer. In order to electrically safeguard this equipment , our design has an interlock with a solenoid installed on each door , to prevent the operator from opening the door if the equipment is running in automatic or production mode.

 Furthermore our UL 508 safety interface control that was designed, built and installed on this project is going to interchange signals between machine’s manufacturer control and safety circuit that monitor the interlocks with a redundant safety circuit and also prohibit the equipment from ruining if the doors are open. If the equipment is on set up mode the operator will be able to open the doors and only jog the equipment but not run the equipment on auto mode. To  further safeguard the palletizer portion of this equipment limit switches were installed to monitor position of palletizer roll up door and location of the tombstones to prevent damage to the equipment.