TE Connectivity:
Product Marking Solution For Multifitting Project
On this project called the Multifitting Connector Assembly Machine I had a smaller role in the conditioning phase of the project to fix a problem they were having with the marking technology in the end process of their machine. It needed to create a very simple mark on the connector, but the marking instrument they were using wasn't producing consistent results so I was tasked with fixing that problem. To the left is the full assembly of the machine in scope as well as the subassembly I was working on below.
This is the connector that I was working on and an example of the line that needed to be placed on the connector after it had been assembled.
To solve their issue I did some research and found a company called Markem Imaje that sells industrial inkjet printers for marking products with text. I contacted the local representative, explained the application, and we found a product in their line that he thought might work. I then setup a demonstration with the sales engineer and he came to our facility to test the inkjet machine in the connector assembly machine (aka Multifitting project).
The inkjet machine consisted of the printer itself as well as a printhead attached to a cable. This printhead was rather large, and the main reason I wanted the sales engineer to come out was to test the fit of the printhead in our machine. In red was the zone I had to work with in the machine to fit the printhead and it didn't fit. Luckily the sales engineer from Markem Imaje had a solution to our issue by replacing the cord with a 90 degree elbow cord to reduce the amount of volume needed for the cable protrusion.
This was the inkjet printer from Markem Imaje that they ended up using in their machine. The 9450.