Wood Grain Vision Retrofit

Challenge:

A large kitchen cabinet manufacturer wanted to be able to run MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) on the machine that currently cuts the hardwood center panels for the cabinet doors. The challenge with cutting both MDF and hardwoods on the same machine is that they require two sets of cutters that cannot be interchanged. Once a cutter is used to shape MDF, it can no longer cut hardwoods to an acceptable finish. If an operator accidentally cut MDF with tools intended for hardwood, the diamond cutters would have to be sent out for a costly sharpening.

Solution:

Jenkins engineering used an inspection camera to detect the absence or presence of wood grains as the boards enter the machine. If an operator feeds a board that has no wood grains (MDF) when he or she has the hardwood cutters in the machine, the camera will spot the bad board and stop the chain before the board is cut. Conversely, if wood grain is detected when the operator should be feeding MDF, the machine can also be programmed to stop or give the operator a warning message.

Benefits:

1. Saved the customer from having to buy a second panel shaper machine
2. Protects expensive tooling
3. Simple and effective