Zmation Announces Custom Printer Feet Placement System

August 30, 1996 — Portland, OR, USA—Zmation, Inc. announced today the development of a new custom Printer Feet Placement System. This system was specifically designed to feed and place the rubber feet on computer printers. Additionally, this system can be configured to meet many other automated feeding, placement, and assembly requirements for a wide variety of production products.

The system incorporates four (4) modified label feeders to singulate the “butt” cut rubber feet from standard spools. Each individual foot is presented to a pneumatic “pick-and-place” (P&P) head for transfer of the foot to the computer printer’s base. Sensors are provided to sense the presence of each foot, proper placement, and potential jam conditions. Each of the four (4) feeders are mounted in adjustable positions above a conveyor which transfers each printer’s base from a progressive die stamping press to the placers and then on to the packaging area. The system is capable of placing all four (4) feet on the printer base at rates up to 60 parts per minute.

This system demonstrates some of the design and manufacturing capabilities of Zmation, Inc. for custom automation systems. Zmation also produces standard Automatic Dispensing Systems and Machine Vision Inspection Systems for a wide variety of applications.