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Client: Scott Bellinger, Bellinger's Button Boxes
Project Overview:
Many older accordions require the replacement of reeds which are currently only available from Italy. Bellinger's Button Boxes sponsored a previous MSD project to create an automated manufacturing system to punch, assemble and fuse these reeds but the delivered prototype required numerous fixes to operate successfully. In addition, the sponsor identified several additional functions to be incorporated. These functions included an improved Human Machine Interface, final reed inspection and sorting, and bonding of special materials. The goals of this project were to address both the fixes and the improvements.
Solution:
The team continued development on the accordion reed valve machine initially started by P19667. Several subsystems required redesign and troubleshooting. Our team successfully developed a new system to punch the required rivet holes in the material, automatically adjust the length of valves according to user input, and to test valves to ensure they deflect an appropriate amount when blown on. Additionally, the team developed a user interface through the use of a touchscreen HMI, which allows the user to control the machine without an external laptop.
Video:
The team's lightning talk video can be viewed here.
Team paper:
Team poster:
*** More design and development information may be found at our team Confluence site.