06/17/2020 San Jose, CA With the recent demand for blood sample tubes going up, Stirling Engineering was called upon to create a custom desktop Blister Pack Label Applicator. The applicator needed to be operational in 3 weeks. It also had to be made from FDA materials and operate in a clean room designed for medical device manufacturing. Stirling started with an off-the shelf printer and added a new control system made from standard commercially available components. Specifically: an AMP 2035-O stepper driver with built in oscillator, an Omron label sensor, along with standard power supplies, dc motor, relays and timers. All of the printer parts are made for long service life and are commercially available. This machine is placed in front of the label printer and has a passive buffer/accumulator placed in between. This is a desktop manual station that operates with a push button, or a foot-switch or operated remotely with a PLC. This technology, proven on the desktop, can be later deployed on a linear or rotary assembly line. It is also fast with a 2 second cycle time. Stirling achieved this efficiency and economy of scale by designing, fabricating, and assembling this first article in a single operation, then conducting rapid testing and development. The CAD screen layout and design with dimensioned parts is displayed right next to the mill and lathe. Once the system is tested and performing, the parts are taken off polished, anodized or finished and then go back on the machine final assembly. All of these operations are done in house in one synchronized operation. Contact Greg Stirling for all your automation and tooling needs. www.stirlingeng.com