I have been reading along as a guest for a while, have followed various tutorials, in the past I have built a CNC and now I have a next project in mind. I'm writing a short introduction because I could possibly use your help.
I have a small webshop in dog snacks/candy, and we sometimes have to pack some bulk in smaller quantities, after looking at professional machines with price tags over 25K I took up the plan to build some kind of wrapping machine myself.
The standard solutions are too expensive, too large and have too high a capacity for me. (I don't need 60 bags per minute, rather 60 bags per hour) It also doesn't matter if, for example, there is 5 grams too much in the package.
I have seen a machine on youtube that does the same thing, only it works on pneumatics and by means of a standard scale that can be purchased via ali express, the bags we have are made of paper and have a so-called zipper. I want to close the bag in the same way. I'll post the link
How I want to do it:
The machine gets a large box, with a spiral feeder, this feeder (stepper motor 1) rotates and feeds the scale (load cell with Hx711).
When the weight is reached, a bag has to be taken and opened in this order:
Stepper motor 2 rotates 180 degrees
Actuator slides out x number of cm
Solenoid valve 1 opens, so that the suction mouth sucks the bag tight by means of a suction nozzle. (vacuum is created by an external pump)
Actuator retracts
Stepper motor 2 rotates back to 0 degrees
Actuator extends to press the pouch against a 2nd nozzle
Solenoid valve 2 opens
Actuator moves in, opening the pouch.
The lid of the scale opens (servo motor or stepper motor)
Actuator moves out again to close the pouch slightly
Solenoid valve 1 closes so that the bag only hangs on nozzle 2
Motor 3 (under nozzle 2) rotates 180 degrees to a standard machine with conveyor belt and heat seal to close the pouch
Solenoid 2 closes and bag is released
I have an ARDUINO mega board with ramp 1.4 cnc shield, with which I would like to control the machine (without GRBL) the machine to close the bag still needs to be purchased, just like the pump to create the vacuum.
Now the question is, who can and wants to help me to get this project started.
it is much too simple to take money for it but too much effort to get it how you it want. and if you not make this by self then every time when you want some thing change, an additional LED or button or 5 grams more, you forced to looking for new help and waiting. if children can learn arduino so you can this hundred times better.
i can 3D print some of the parts, All electronics and hardware has already been purchased, including a number of aluminum extrusion profiles. i also have the vacuum nozzles.
I understand what you are saying, I understand the basic principle including the codes as well, maybe I am thinking too complex and don't want to make a mistake to waste a board.
Maybe I should just start with the basics and expand step by step.
Rather than trying to weigh single parts of a large container, consider using the average weight of a known volume (a cup?). Continually dump the contents of the large box into a series of these known-volume containers, letting the excess fall away to be recycled for the next containers.
If you can position things differently, you might only need a single stepper motor and rotating actuator. The advantage of using two in the video is that the pneumatic actuators are driven to stops, and would be very difficult to position in the middle, while a stepper motor can pick up a bag at one end of its travel, rotate to the fill position, then continue rotating to the sealing machine. Micro-switches should probably be used to verify that the intended position has actually been reached. Some way of detecting that a bag has actually been picked up, and that the bag feeder is not empty, would also be helpful.
The steps you outlined appear to be a fairly simple sequence of sequential actions, so the basic machine should be fairly simple to implement. It gets more involved if you want a display and a keypad or other device to enter data, so that you can vary the weight of product in the bag, number of bags to fill, etc.