Recent builds, designed and commissioned end-to-end.

What was built

A compact rotary cell that picks disks from a stack, indexes them to a stamping station, and ejects finished parts. Mechanical design, controls, pneumatics, and the operator HMI were all delivered by a single team. The machine runs on the Levra shop floor as a demonstrator and platform for future variants.

The build inherited the modular bricks (controls, motion, pneumatic, power) and the CODESYS template, so machine-specific engineering focused on the rotary kinematics, vacuum picker design, and stamp head — not on the controls plumbing.

Engineering highlights

• Rotary indexing stage. Distinct rotary transition between pick, stamp, and eject positions.
• Vacuum picker. Reliable single-disk pickup from a stacked magazine.
• Pneumatic stamp head. Repeatable force profile with sensed home/stamp positions.
• Operator-friendly magazine reload. Quick refill pattern designed so operators can keep the cell running without engineering involvement.
• Operator HMI inherited. Auto/Manual modes, job tracking, and fault recovery from the template.

What was built

A demonstrator that classifies a loaded can by geometry (standard 12oz, tall, or invalid), then crushes it with a pneumatic cylinder if valid. The cycle uses the Levra controls template for mode management, guard interlock, fault recovery, and cycle counting — with classification logic and crush sequencing as the project-specific code.

The Can Crusher is a useful demonstrator for the template’s fault and recovery design: every cycle is auditable, every state visible to the operator, and the “invalid can” path is explicit rather than a hidden corner case.

Engineering highlights

• Pneumatic discipline. 5/3 paired valve control for the crush cylinder — deterministic extend, hold, and retract. Every motion is gated by sensors and interlocks.
• Classification with HMI step assist. The HMI surfaces the can class (standard / tall / invalid) before the crush is permitted, so the operator sees the system’s reasoning.
• Sequencing & interlock proof. Wrong commands never execute — the discharge waits for the guard, the crush waits for the classification step.
• Telemetry. Cycle counts, runtime, and classification results exported per job.

What was built

A bench-scale cell that picks a ball from the bottom of a ramp and places it back at the top, where it runs down into a recessed nest. When the operator presses a release button, an air cylinder extends and the ball rolls down the ramp to the pickup at the bottom — ready for the next cycle.

The cell is a useful demonstrator of the CODESYS template’s fault and recovery design. Pick retries play out on screen; when retries exhaust, the machine escalates to a fault, the operator presses Reset, and the cycle resumes from the exact step it was interrupted on. The operator can also Hold mid-cycle, and the machine pauses cleanly — vacuum keeps gripping, no motion — until Resume continues from the same step.

Mechanical design, motion, pneumatics, controls, and HMI delivered by one team using the modular bricks and CODESYS template.

Engineering highlights

• Vacuum pick with retry. Missed picks trigger a retry sequence; the machine self-recovers when the ball returns.
• Fault → reset → resume from step. When retries exhaust, the template’s fault popup surfaces. After Reset, the cycle resumes from the exact step it stopped on — not from the beginning.
• Operator Hold mid-cycle. The Hold button pauses motion cleanly while the vacuum keeps gripping. Resume continues from the same step.
• Pneumatic release. An air cylinder extends to release the ball from the gated nest at the top of the ramp.