Test stock hand-off on a sawmill system
When a customer is having issues with their sorter or painter, use this to test stock handoff information, moisture sorting, and to diagnose slow PLC communication speed.
Settings will be changed during this test that will affect the outputs of the system, the stock settings, and output on time. This test will sort all lumber of one dimension as wet, and all other lumber dimensions as dry. All of the settings will need to be changed back after the test is completed.
Prerequisites
Transverse system
A known “good” backup of the system
Sorter/Painter PLC must be set to mark every board
Step-by-step guide
STEP |
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| 1 | Open the Transverse Non Contact Software Before changing any settings, ensure there is a known good backup of the system (controller and stocks). | 
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| 2 | Navigate to the Tools menu at the top of the window. | 
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| 3 | Make a backup of the stocks prior to starting this test. |
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| 4 | From the drop down menu select Change Setpoints. |
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| 5 | Change the Marker Setpoints so that all 2x4s read wet and 2x6s read dry. (or whatever combination of lumber that the customer is currently running) The image on the right shows that all markers are set to the lowest possible setting for 2x4s, this will allow all 2x4s to be read as wet. To make boards read dry, set the values for Marker 1-3 to 98.8, 98.9 and 99. Be sure to choose the correct stock from the pull down when changing the setpoints. |
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| 6 | Run an assortment of boards through the system. Are the boards sorted appropriately when viewed in the live monitor compared to their end location in the sorter or painter? (Are all 2x4s wet and 2x6s dry?) If yes, the system is working correctly. If no, continue to the next step. The PLC must be programmed to mark each board as wet or dry. |
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| 7 | Confirm that the moisture information handoff is being sent on the correct lug. If this is correct, continue to the next step. If it is not correct, correct the timing issue before continuing to the next step. Once the timing is correct, verify the sorter or paint marker is working properly with the system by running more boards on the line. If the problem persists continue to the next step. |
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| 8 | Once timing has been verified, increase the On Time for the signal being sent to the PLC in the Setup menu under Paint Markers. The setting should be around 10. Try Increasing to 15, test the system again. If improvements are seen by increasing the on signal but the system is still not 100% accurate, continue to increase the value. It is most ideal to have the signal on for the full lug, but it is important that the signal not last for longer than the duration of one full lug. |
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| 9 | Once the correct On Time has been decided, restore the system from the known good backup. Change and save the settings that corrected the issue during troubleshooting. Create a new backup. |
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