Customer Requirement

Hatcher Components approached CSD as they required two machines for lifting and handling the moulds used in manufacturing of parts for the commercial vehicle industry.  The customer was looking to remove any manual lifting requirement as well as improve overall efficiencies.

Project Challenges

The challenges in this project were the large size, heavy weight and awkward shape of the heavy duty moulds that had to be lifted.  The solution also had to be suitable for both parts of this two step process.

The CSD Automated Industrial Manipulator Solution

The CSD team designed, manufactured and installed an automated industrial manipulator system comprising two mould lift and turn machines. One is the ‘Break Out’ machine and one is the ‘Pour and close’ machine each used for their respective part of the overall process.

The ‘Break Out’ Machine lifts the product off of the Mould Line conveyor, turns and loads it to the Lid Conveyor.  The mould then travels on the conveyor until is reaches the Lid Service area where it is cleaned. Then the ‘Pour & Close’  Machine takes the lid, rotates it and put onto the lower mould. The system was designed to process 60 units per shift on a continuous loop.

The machines were fitted with a manual operating mode to allow operator control of each of the machines’ movements. For safety and physical constraints the rotations are interlocked so that movement is only possible when the carriage is raised to the rotate height. Additional safety functionality includes the ‘enable’ button which must be pushed at the same time as the relevant function buttons to prevent accidental actions.

These automated industrial manipulators were manufactured and tested in our facility in Hertfordshire and installed and commissioned on site for the customer. If you would like to find out more about our range of automated industrial manipulators please visit our CSD Manipulators product pages.  You can also see the machines in action on our CSD Automation Youtube page CSD Manipulators and CSD Automation – Mould industrial manipulator product trials – YouTube.