A prominent customer asked for a feature to detect if the Shear fails to cut either due to a broken blade or due to a malfunctioning press.

If used, our Shear Complete input, combined with setting Expect Shear Complete to Yes, will detect a Malfunctioning press. It will not detect a broken shear blade. If broken shear blades are common, the Shear Complete input can now be placed in a new mode that utilizes a photo sensor to detect a gap in the material.

The solution adds a new selection for Expect Shear Complete called Material Gap. This setting changes the function of the Shear Complete input to detect the gap in the material created by cutting the part. A downstream sensor to detect the gap is required.

If the Material Gap option is selected a new setup called Material Gap Sensor Distance becomes available to configure the sensor location. A fixed 6" tolerance is in place for sensing expected gaps. The Sensor is expected to be connected to the input that would normally be used as the Shear Complete. It will be labeled Material Gap in the IO Diagnostic screen. Every Part longer than the Sensor distance will be tested to ensure a gap is sensed. If the machine is running parts shorter than the Sensor Distance, some individual parts will be untested but an issue with the shear blade will be caught within the approximate Sensor Distance.

If an expected gap is missed, the line will be halted and a Material Gap Sensor error with possible causes will be displayed.