One of Maclean Vehicle Systems’ (MVS’s) many automotive fastener products is stainless steel capped wheel nuts. The nuts are assembled on an index machine that processes two parts simultaneously at each station. The fasteners must be inspected to verify the nuts are properly threaded. MVS previously performed this fastener inspection with an eddy current sensor whose accuracy was less than desired, at times resulting in expensive over-sort.

“We looked at a number of different vision sensors,” says T.J. Konieczke, manufacturing controls engineer for MVS. “Some were sensitive, intimidating, and had a high learning curve like the vision systems that we have used in the past. We selected Cognex Checker vision sensors because they are very easy to program and operate. We simply put them in place, connect a PC to the USB port, we train on the part to be inspected, and pick tools off a menu that inspect the critical features of the part.”

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