Flowpack Custom Design Parts
A little about the project
My client has an early 1960-1970’s flowpack machine. It hasn’t run in 3 years. I got it up and running again after rigorous troubleshooting despite the lack of documentation. Them machine is worn down significantly and is in need of parts. One area that needs attention is the conveyor chain.
The result of the repairs
The issue
The conveyor chain is an integral part of the machine. In its current statew its is rusted, it has worn out and missing pegs (the part that grabs the chocholate and pushes it forward). Even if the rest of the machine is running the missing plastic pegs reduce efficiency and cause the machine to waste packaging material needlessly.
The challenge
As I have already mentioned this is a 50-60 year old machine. The client is unable to source the parts needed to repair the conveyor. However I have two tools in my arsenal: My CAD/Reverse engineering skills and my 3D printer. If I can’t find something I can make it and improve it along the way.
Designing the parts
This was a relaxing change of pace from the usual design work I do. The parts were simple enough to design within 30 minutes. After copying the original parts and got the base features I started modifying the design to better fit the clients needs. They wanted the pegs to be longer so that they can be used to push trays of sweets. The original design would work terrific, if only the trays the client is using didn’t have a gap in the middle.
The machine was not built with this use case in mind. I ended up making the peg longer by 13mm to reliably grab the trays. Also I had to file away a bit of the machine’s metal guard to make the pegs fit.