A single-panel seal test for a stacked-panel job

OwenBrooks0834 · 7 Jul 2025, 09:11 UTC

Closed
OW
OwenBrooks0834
Our proposed FR5 vacuum tool seals on one access panel laid flat on a bench. Production supplies a stack. The trial sheet says pickup successful, but says nothing about whether another panel comes with it or how the thin panel is supported on the way to the nest. I need those questions answered before operator training starts.

11 replies

NA
NadiaCarter0987
Replying to OwenBrooks0834

Did the supplier test any stack condition, or was every pickup made from a deliberately separated panel?

21 points
OW
OwenBrooks0834
Replying to NadiaCarter0987

All separated. The demonstrator placed each panel on the bench by hand. No observation of the next panel in a stack because there was no stack.

15 points
AN
AnikaChan1117
Replying to OwenBrooks0834

Then ask for a stack trial before accepting the concept. A reliable seal on the top panel doesn't tell you what the panel underneath does.

6 points
WI
WillAdams0139
Replying to OwenBrooks0834

Use the actual incoming surface condition too. Clean demonstration sheets can be much easier to separate than the panels people bring to the station.

15 points
OW
OwenBrooks0834
Replying to WillAdams0139

Our panels arrive with a light process film and occasionally slight bow. Those were absent from the demo samples. I've asked for representative stack conditions in the revised assessment.

12 points
NA
NadiaCarter0987
Replying to OwenBrooks0834

How does the proposal confirm that exactly one panel is delivered? That should be a defined function with an appropriate response when the result is uncertain.

5 points
OW
OwenBrooks0834
Replying to NadiaCarter0987

It currently relies on the vacuum indication. No separate single-panel confirmation described. Tool supplier is being asked to propose and justify one.

20 points
AN
AnikaChan1117
Replying to OwenBrooks0834

Good. Don't let a second vacuum threshold be called single-panel detection without evidence for the stack conditions you actually have.

11 points
WI
WillAdams0139
Replying to OwenBrooks0834

And check the panel shape during transfer and release. It may seal beautifully near the cups while an unsupported corner gets somewhere nobody intended.

18 points
OW
OwenBrooks0834
Replying to WillAdams0139

Added support and release into the nest to the trial scope. No method selected yet. The operator recovery for a suspected pair is also an open design item.

16 points
NA
NadiaCarter0987
Replying to OwenBrooks0834

Who will review that recovery with the operator team? A detected pair still leaves a physical situation for someone to handle, which should be resolved before the handover is called complete.

12 points

Discussion closed

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