Automation, using cams, followers, switches, etc... is often robust, fast, easy to service. The latter, given a reasonable theory of operation.
I saw a company injection molding 3.5" floppy disk shells. They made billions of the things and almost all the automation was air and motor driven using those basic devices.
A cam encodes a sequence of actions, or states, onto something that slides or rotates. Really, it just needs to move in a consistent way.
Levers, followers linked up to one another, or switches and valves, would then perform sequences of state changes. I was impressed and could see how it worked almost immediately. Each machine, injection, trimming tools, suction cups, would produce a run of shells, trim various bits,, separate them from the runners, and discard the left overs, leaving a handful of those things in a box, prepped for assembly.
The old guard had built the place up on that tech. Younger ones choosing between the old, time tested, production proven tech and more modern, computer automation.
It was not always a slam dunk. Those newer engineers got both skill sets and would apply them as they felt made best sense.
This bulky computer is impractical in many ways today, but many of the ideas in it are still relevant and capable.
Automation, using cams, followers, switches, etc... is often robust, fast, easy to service. The latter, given a reasonable theory of operation.
I saw a company injection molding 3.5" floppy disk shells. They made billions of the things and almost all the automation was air and motor driven using those basic devices.
A cam encodes a sequence of actions, or states, onto something that slides or rotates. Really, it just needs to move in a consistent way.
Levers, followers linked up to one another, or switches and valves, would then perform sequences of state changes. I was impressed and could see how it worked almost immediately. Each machine, injection, trimming tools, suction cups, would produce a run of shells, trim various bits,, separate them from the runners, and discard the left overs, leaving a handful of those things in a box, prepped for assembly.
The old guard had built the place up on that tech. Younger ones choosing between the old, time tested, production proven tech and more modern, computer automation.
It was not always a slam dunk. Those newer engineers got both skill sets and would apply them as they felt made best sense.
This bulky computer is impractical in many ways today, but many of the ideas in it are still relevant and capable.