This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Assembly Magazine logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Assembly Magazine logo
  • Home
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Digital Edition
    • Archives
    • Specs Book
    • How-To-Guide
    • Buyers Guide
  • Exclusives
    • Plant of the Year
      • About Plant of the Year
      • Nomination Form
    • Capital Spending
    • State of the Profession
  • Industries
    • Aerospace
    • Appliance
    • Automotive
    • Medical Devices
    • DFMA Assembly
    • Green Manufacturing
    • Lean Manufacturing
    • Electronics Assembly
    • Machinery Assembly
  • Technologies
    • Adhesives
    • Assembly Presses
    • Automated Assembly
    • Dispensing
    • Motion Control
    • Screwdriving and Riveting
    • Plastics Assembly
    • Robotics
    • Test and Inspection
    • Welding
    • Wire Processing
    • Workstations
  • Columns
    • Assembly in Action
    • Automation Profiles
    • Medical Device Assembly
    • On Campus
    • Shipulski on Design
    • The Editorial
    • XYZ
    • Moser on Manufacturing
    • 21st Century Assembly
    • Mind Your Ps and Qs
  • New Products
  • More
    • Web Exclusives
    • Classifieds
    • eNewsletter
    • Blog
    • Market Research
    • Store
    • Product Spotlight
    • White Papers
    • Integrated Showcase
    • Custom Content & Marketing Solutions
    • Monthly Quiz
    • Sponsored Insight
  • Multimedia
    • Assembly Radio
    • Assembly TV
    • Image Galleries
    • Webinars
    • Interactive Spotlights
    • eBooks
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • The Assembly Show
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
  • InfoCenters
    • Collaborative Robot Revolution
    • Factory of the Future
Home » We Fed It: Bowl Feeds Handles for Dental Mirror Assembly
Columns

We Fed It: Bowl Feeds Handles for Dental Mirror Assembly

May 20, 2009
John Sprovieri
Reprints
Five inches long and 0.5 inch in diameter, the mirror handle was shaped for ergonomics and utility-not for automated assembly.

You’re at the dentist. Your mouth is open, he’s probing around with his mirror and tools, and you’d rather be anywhere else but in that chair. Well, take heart: At least you’ll know how that mirror was assembled.

Systems integrator and bowl manufacturer Dial-X Automated Equipment Inc. (Albion, IN) recently designed and built an automated assembly system for a dental mirror. The system was built on a walking beam chassis.

Feeding the plastic handle for the mirror would be a challenge. Five inches long and 0.5 inch in diameter, the handle was shaped for ergonomics and utility-not for automated assembly. Dial-X designed a vibratory bowl and conveyor to feed the parts.

The handles are fed end to end, with the mirror end leading. The feeder supplies one handle every 3 seconds.

“The bowl was coated with urethane to prevent scratching and scuffs,” explains Curt Bonar, president of Dial-X. “Due to the shape of the handle, special tooling was installed to assist with the orientation.”

For more information on parts feeders and automated assembly systems, call Dial-X at 260-636-7588 or visit www.dial-x.com.

Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a regular series profiling parts feeders for automated assembly systems. Whether it’s a vibratory bowl, a tray feeder or a flexible robotic system, if you’ve solved a parts-feeding challenge, we’d like to hear about it. Send an e-mail to John Sprovieri, editor of ASSEMBLY, at sprovierij@bnpmedia.com, or call 630-694-4012.

subscribe to assembly

Recent Articles by John Sprovieri

What’s New From the ASSEMBLY Show

System feeds parts for ear protection devices

Robots assemble hydraulic valves

Right-to-repair law could affect product design

Soft Robotics Introduces Modular, Flexible Gripper for UR Cobots

Sprovieri200
John has been with ASSEMBLY magazine since February 1997. John was formerly with a national medical news magazine, and has written for Pathology Today and the Green Bay Press-Gazette. John holds a B.A. in journalism from Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism.

Related Articles

We Fed It: Bowl Feeds Hinges for Safety Glasses

We Fed It: Bowl Feeds Needle Hubs

We Fed It: Bowls Feed 1,200 Parts a Minute

We Fed It: Bowls Supply Parts for Catheter

Related Products

Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly, Third Edition

Designing Plastic Parts for Assembly 8E

Kaizen Assembly: Designing, Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line

Assembly Automation and Product Design, Second Edition

Related Events

Introduction to Parts Feeding – Parts Singulation for Robot Automation

Related Directories

Wes-Tech Automation Solutions LLC

Action Feed Systems

Carlson Engineering & Manufacturing Inc.

Subscribe For Free!
  • Print & Digital Edition Subscriptions
  • Assembly eNewsletters
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service
  • Mobile App

More Videos

Popular Stories

lordstown motors

Electric Truck Manufacturer Buys GM’s Lordstown Assembly Plant

Bobcat manufacturing

Bobcat Announces Manufacturing and Assembly Facility Upgrades

Linear Motor Transport Systems

Linear Motor Transport Systems

Wearable Device 11-27

Wearable Lets Users Control IoT-Enabled Devices With Brain Waves

Rayovac 11-20

Energizer Moving VT Battery Manufacturing Facility to Former Rayovac Plant

Upcoming Assembly Events and Webinars

Events

January 1, 2030

Webinar Sponsorship Information

For webinar sponsorship information, visit www.bnpevents.com/webinars or email webinars@bnpmedia.com.

View All Submit An Event

Poll

Cloud Computing

Are you using cloud computing at your assembly plant?
View Results Poll Archive

Products

Welding: Principles & Practices

Welding: Principles & Practices

This text introduces students to a solid background in the basic principles and practices of welding.

See More Products
assembly buyers guide

Assembly Magazine

assembly dec 2019

2019 December

The 2019 December Assembly features our Capital Spending Report, plus much more. Check it out today!
View More Create Account
  • More
    • Assembly Plant of the Year
    • Manufacturing Group
    • List Rental
    • Organizations
    • Connect
    • Want More?
    • Polls
    • Privacy Policy
    • Subscribe
    • Survey And Sample

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing