Elscint recently completed two bowl feeders for feeding of very small chain link plates. One link was having size 11 x 5.7 mm while the other was much smaller at 9.3 x 6.5 mm. There was a rod fitted in only one hole and that needed to be down and forward. Orienting the parts in this way was difficult as most came in other direction. Proper tooling inside the bowl ensured that the majority of the links were turned to get the required orientation. This was possible with a dropping mechanism. Thereafter the orientation was done and rest of the links which were not correctly oriented were removed and recirculated back into the bowl. The links were oily and hence Elscinthane PU coating with rough texture was provided. Furthermore, ahead of the bowl feeder a 300 mm long linear track with SM I linear vibrator was placed with proper mounting provision. Each of the links were in a separate bowl feeder and poka yoke was designed so that the wrong link is not fed in the wrong bowl feeder. The customer had a couple of Japanese bowl feeders but they were not giving the required output since they were bought. The customer had a urgent requirement to replace both of these and requested Elscint for a fast delivery. Both the bowl feeders were completed, tooled, tested and dispatched with 4 weeks. Model 160 with a stainless steel step / cascade bowl was used in both these cases. One bowl feeder was clockwise while the other was anti-clockwise. Speed required was 50 parts per minute but a much higher speed was achieved. A sensor placed on the linear track ensured that once the track was full, the bowl feeder was switched off. You can have a look at one of the videos.