AUTOMATION

Power. Force. Motion.

Give power to your project with one of our sophisticated, custom-designed systems. From test-beds to automation to inspection systems, we know machines. SIGMADESIGN provides custom machine designs that enhance productivity, accomplish test needs and other unique tasks.

CUSTOM MACHINE DESIGN + AUTOMATION EXPERTISE

Each machine we build begins as your idea. We'll work together to engineer a machine specific to your needs. The list at the right provides insight to the variety of machines we’ve designed for our clients. Below you can find out more about specific automation systems we design.

Automation

Autosizer
Battery Spinner
BIB Loader
Cutters
Degradation Tester
Drive Gear Ring Press
Fabric Cutters
Full Labyrinth Seal
Labeling Machine
Laser Trimming Machine
Life-Cycle Tester
Loaders
Ovens
Torque Limit Tester
Vision Systems
Wearable Device Tester

AUTOMATION

SIGMADESIGN developed an auto-sizing machine to automate the precision sizing operations of a metal injection molded part (MIM) used in the medical industry.

SIGMADESIGN designed a new machine that provided the same set of operations needed by the client. Their existing machine performed these, but failed often. The new design was more robust and performed with faster cycle times.

The machine picks the part from the end of a bowl feeder track, immerses it in a bath of mineral oil, and then places it in a precision sizing die and forms it to the precise size. At the end of the operation, machine checks for proper part completion. Goals for cycle times and mean time between failures (MTBF) were met. Machine elements include vibratory bowl feeder, pneumatic actuation and PLC control.

Services: Mechanical Engineering, Software/Ladder Logic

SIGMADESIGN provided professional services to develop a life-tester for a battery mount system for wind turbines.

Features included:

4 pole AC motor w/ 5.5 : 1 gear-head
V-belt drive with 8 : 1 reduction
Test speed is approx 38 rpm
Capable of 0.2 G to 0.5 G induced load
Incorporated counter
Incorporated vibration sensing device for auto shut off and E-stop

After conducting the testing, SIGMADESIGN developed a report for the client with recommended improvements.

SIGMADESIGN designed and built this burn-in board (BIB) loader. The work cell loads and unloads BGAs from a JEDEC production tray in to a socketed test circuit board.

The robot loads and unloads BGAs to/from sockets on the BIB circuit board. The location of the sockets is a combination of machine vision to find two fiducials on the BIB and socket data from the Gerber file. From these two data the robot calculates the socket positions in robot space.

We designed and built this “burn-in oven” to test custom integrated circuits (IC’s) for a medical device.

The oven accepted 24 large burn-in boards, worth about $15k each, so transport and loading had to be precise to avoid costly damage.

Design includes the transport/loading cart to safely load the boards, along with the oven itself. Oven design involved critical sealing, interlocks temp monitoring and a low-pressure nitrogen system to purge all the oxygen before starting burn-in process.

SIGMADESIGN developed this spin riveting machine to automate the client’s riveting process for a professional grade cutting tool.

Custom built for the client, this is THE production machine used for building the tool.

SIGMADESIGN provided all the design and automation, which included a complex indexing system that allows for continuous assembly.

Machine components include:

Main enclosure with programmable logic controller (PLC), power supply, relays, fuses, and electrical components
Control box contains operator interface panel (OIP), status lights, staging area, load and unload track, load assembly, indexing stage, rivier head, anvil and oiler assemblies, and processing area.

Vision System designed by SIGMADESIGN for High-Precision Automation

CUSTOM ASSEMBLY, ENABLING, AND CHARACTERIZATION TOOLING

SIGMADESIGN has over 20 years of experience designing and creating a wide range of tooling and fixtures for various manufacturing companies. Precision is essential to success when manufacturing any device. Specifically, for a medical device, tolerances can mean the difference between triumph and failure.

At SIGMADESIGN, we design custom assemblies and characterization tooling with excellent UX design and higher quality components. We work with you from the beginning of your project to understand your needs and then design and build a custom assembly or tool to fit your specific requirements.

TOOLING & FIXTURE DESIGN

BED OF NAILS
BELT TENSION
DISPENSING
DISPLACEMENT MEASUREMENT
GO NO-GO
LIFT ASSIST
LOAD MEASUREMENT
NESTS, HOLDING FIXTURES, JIGS, ASSEMBLY AIDS
PLASTIC WELDING
PRESSES
PRESSURE MEASUREMENT
PULL FORCE TESTERS
TORQUE MEASUREMENT
TUBE SETTERS

If you are manufacturing PCBs, you will want to have a way to ensure your boards are functional and without defects. One method for in-circuit testing is to use of a bed of nails fixture. We can provide a variety of cost effective solutions for your boards. We specialize in custom solutions, so whether you need PCB level prototype testing or full scale final assembly testing, we can help. We provide PCB level testing for lab or manufacturing.

Our final assembly level test fixtures are design with user experience in mind and robust construction ideal for manufacturing environments.
SIGMADESIGN offers outstanding service and quality on custom test fixtures to meet your schedule and budget.

There are countless ways to measure belt tension, but rarely do they work for ultra-low tension measurement. These applications often require highly customized solutions. That’s where we can help. Deflection, sonic, or custom strain-gauge yokes, we have employed them all to measure belt drives at the low end of the spectrum and we love a new challenge!

If setting accurate belt tension is important for your manufacturing needs, give us a call.

SIGMADESIGN provides custom dispensing systems that ensure smooth and consistent dispensing for various purposes. We have a lot of experience designing dispensers for different applications including medical fluids, adhesives, lubricants, herbal extracts, and food grade products.

A custom system can address metering, environmental factors, precision requirements and placement, and product loss mitigation. Dispensing methods can be very simple, but integration into your specific application can require custom fixturing. SIGMADESIGN provides custom systems from hand-held to fully-automated arrangements that meet your dispensing needs.

Whether you need help with metering a dynamic viscosity liquid or engineering to solve environmental concerns, we provide serviceable, custom dispensing systems. Contact us today to discuss your particular needs.

Displacement/ Distance/ and Position Measurement

From meters to microns, contact or no-contact, to big budget or small budget, if distance or position are critical in your application, our team can help. SIGMADESIGN has delivered thousands of tools and fixtures to assist manufacturers in measuring critical parameters using mechanical gauges, lasers, capacitive, inductive (LVDT), resistive sensors, and precision calibration fixtures.

For in-line or mid process, we develop characterization tooling of all kinds that ensure proper assembly. If your assembly process requires displacement, distance, or position measurement, we can help!

There are many off-the-shelf lift mechanisms, but sometimes the only solution is custom. At SIGMADESIGN we design and build customized lift assist devices that are produced specifically for your application. Ergonomics and user experience are important considerations for any lifting application we design.

With input from you, the user and engineers, we provide solutions such as interlocks, end effectors, or complex positioning systems. With parameters such as complex heavy shapes or multiple simple items, we can design a product that reduces operator fatigue and provides precision operator controls for accurate picking and placement. Some of our systems include: shuttle tables, zero G lifts, optical tables, pallet lifts, and tool balancers.

Measuring mechanical force with a load cell is fairly well understood. Getting the load cell to the measurement point, ensuring it survives in your environment, designing in overload protection, and making it easy to calibrate can be the real challenge. Our experience with load cells, strain gauges, and custom yokes makes us a great resource for tools that push, pull, bend, break, slip, or slide.

Plastic Welding/ Induction Welding/ Ultrasonic Welding

If your product requires joining complex material properties, SIGMADESIGN can design a custom system for your specific application needs. Plastic welding can offer exceptional strength, and often reduced cycle times compared to other joining options such as mechanical, or chemical. Our experience includes holistic systems that may incorporate a part welding station for pressing, heating, and cooling the desired parts. We typically use plastic welding, induction welding, or ultrasonic welding depending on client needs.

We also design fixtures and holistic systems that integrate plastic welding to complete various part assemblies with semi-automated stations. We understand how to incorporate custom fixtures into overall system design for production of complicated parts that may require induction or ultrasonic welding. We encourage innovation, so any configuration you need is possible.

ultrasonic welding tool

SIGMADESIGN can provide custom presses for your manufacturing needs. Plastic, steel, rubber, you name it! High volume or low volume. When it comes to pressing 2 or more parts together, we have the experience you need.

We have delivered thousands of custom presses including encoder presses, gear presses, and lamination presses for a vast array of applications. We aren’t scared of tight tolerances or complex design requirements. Our custom presses are easily serviceable and utilize robust industry leading components.

pneumatic press

Whether you need to measure hydraulic systems at 1000’s of PSI or a slit seal that opens at ½ inch of water, understanding your systems needs is critical. SIGMADESIGN can help you determine the correct measurement method, the right sensors to use, how to properly condition the signal to ensure you are getting the information you need, and how to calibrate your system. We have experience measuring pressure in hard to reach areas, in-line automation, and anything from medical grade to harsh caustic environments.

pressure measurer

Since 2004, SIGMADESIGN has designed and built hundreds of tube setters. This experience along with rigorous testing has made us one of the industry leaders in pushing tubes onto barb fittings for high-speed assembly lines. Though simple in theory, tube setting is not as easy as it seems. Tube materials range from soft and tacky to hard and slick and must be handled in very different manners to ensure a consistent tube set without damaging the tubes. Our vast experience with these devices, gives us confidence that we will find a solution to your tube setting issue.

SIGMADESIGN has developed a variety of pull force test tools for different applications within the medical and consumer electronic industries. As with most of the tools we develop, no two problems are the same and therefore no two tools operate in the same manner. Our experience reliably measuring the pull force of various systems, such as paper from a roller or a connector from an electrode, ensures that we’ll be able to design a system for your specific need.

If you are unsure whether or not automation makes sense in your case, use this quick questionnaire to determine if automation would be a practical benefit for you:

Is part of the process of producing my product unsafe for my employee?
Is part of the process extremely repetitive (causing injury to an employee from repeating this process)?
Could a simple tool help to improve human safety and operation?

If you answered yes to more than half of these questions, you could benefit from either a simple automation tool(s) or complex automation system.

CHOOSE SUCCESS. CHOOSE SIGMADESIGN.

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