Effective use of smart cameras calls for stabilization

Carbinite is an exclusive electrofusion process for applying carbide alloy coatings to the surface of metal components. The coating increases the coefficient of friction between mating metal parts creating a more secure grip.

Stabilization is key for the effective use of smart cameras in the machine vision industry. If slippage occurs in the camera- mount setup, the camera's angle can be knocked out of line. If slippage occurs in an inspection camera mounted overhead of a conveyor belt whipping two or three parts past the lens every second, defects may go unnoticed, sorting may be impaired, and overall quality assurance may be compromised.

Chris McGeary, president of Allison Park Group (APG), produces mounts and enclosures among other accessories for industrial cameras, and knows that even the smartest camera needs a solid fixture for optimal operation.

"One of the things about the machine vision industry is when you bolt that camera down, you want it to stay aimed exactly on target," McGeary explains.

"Our mounts are made of heavy gauge stainless steel and we didn't want the joints to slip. Once you have aimed the camera, and tightened that bolt, you don't want anything to move."

To prevent the joints from slipping, McGeary teamed up with Andy Hixon, operations manager at nearby Carbinite Metal Coatings, and had them apply Carbinite coating to APG's pan and tilt mounts. Carbinite is an exclusive electrofusion process for applying carbide alloy coatings to the surface of metal components. The coating increases the coefficient of friction between mating metal parts creating a more secure grip.

"The Carbinite indents itself into the other side of the joint ... and that sort of welds it together. It makes for a very solid joint and allows us to produce the mount without a lot of bulk or additional cost," says McGeary.

Rob Freyvogel, President of Carbinite Metal Coatings, calls this indenting process "surface micro-keying" and explains that both surfaces are keyed together upon clamping.

McGeary states, "To get the same sort of stiffness of joint, we would have had to increase the size of the fastener and increase the diameter of these contact areas and possibly do some additional machining, indentation, and probably increase the thickness of the material. We looked around at other ways of increasing the friction in this joint, but this ended up being a very nice solution for us."

Since the Carbinite is not painted or sprayed on, the metal components do not need to be preheated, reducing the chance of part deformation. This makes it easy to customize the application as needed by applying the coating to only the most beneficial contact points.

Carbinite coating is now standard on virtually all APG's pan and tilt mounts

The Carbinite coating is now standard on all APG's pan and tilt mounts except for one miniature monitor mount that is designed for frequent position changes.

McGeary says sales of the Carbinite coated mounts have steadily increased since the coating was added several years ago.

"We started out selling only two or three of these a month, and now it's somewhere between fifty and one hundred. They're moving quite well," he explains.

For more information, visit www.carbinite.com