A customer asked for an enhancement to the Tube Mill controller to minimize scrap due to the Cross Welds that occur when welding coils together. However, this enhancement is useful for minimizing waste when any type of scrap is detected by the Scrap Input.

The customer requested that when scrap is detected with the scrap input, if the current part length will not fit without placing part of it in the scrap area, search the order for parts that will fit. If there are no parts that will fit, add a scrap part of a specified length until all the scrap has been cut out. Once the scrap has been cut out, return to running the original part length.

Enabling the new functionality is accomplished with a new setup parameter called Scrap Detector Mode. It has two settings, Original and Cross Weld. Selecting the Cross Weld option enables the new functionality.

When Cross Weld is selected, the Scrap Detector must be located far enough away so that scrap cannot be detected in a part that has already been queued. It should be located at least 10" + the maximum part length + distance between Shear and Printer + the Scrap Detect Border setting away from the Shear. The line will halt with an error if this rule is violated.

When Cross Weld is selected, the Scrap Chop Length setup is used as the scrap length that is added when a good part cannot be added due to the scrap sensor. The line will not run unless this setting has a non-zero value. It will halt with an error.

A new setup called Scrap Detect Border has been added. It is active all the time when the Tube Mill option is enabled. It can be used to classify an additional border of material as scrap, in front and behind, any scrap material that is detected by the Scrap Detector sensor.

A new Run Cycle Shear implementation was required when the Cross Weld option is selected. Run Cycle Shear occurs when a manual shear is requested in the Run Mode. The feature works the same as it did before but internally, the software implementation had to change. After the Run Cycle Shear, the part queue is deleted and recalculated so that the Cross Weld option rules may still be followed. Negative printer targets will be removed to prevent missed target errors or having to add scrap.