In this guide we will go over general guidelines for reconfiguring your trays and what to look for when making modifications.
The first piece is going to be making sure you have the correct coil size for your product. In this guide it goes over the different coils that are available and the spacing between each selections. When it comes to coils they are all the same length overall. This means that when you change the count of the coil you are changing the size of product that can fit into that selection. For example if you have a 30 count coil you will have 0.514" of space to fit a product into a selection. So these are good for smaller/ thinner items. Where as a 6 count coil you will have 3.16" of space to fit a product into a selection. These are good for some of the larger items.
When picking what coil you are going to go with you will want to keep in mind the thickness of the product and account for a bit of wiggle room. You want to be looking for the product to slide into the section easily but not be so loose that the product can fall down or not dispense right. If the slot is too small and the product has a tight fit you will end up stretching the coil which will bind up the motor and not allow the product to dispense. Picking the right coil for the right product is an essential step that will prevent many issues when dispensing products.
The next piece to look at is the width of the product. Some items are a bit wider and will need an additional motor and coil to help dispense that product. The standard selection is two slots wide on the trays and this typically can accommodate most products. Each slot is about 1.5" apart from each other. With longer items there are a few options that you can utilize, the first is for items that are just slightly bigger than a single selection. You can use one motor and set your divider to 3 slots instead of the standard two. For items that require two selections you are able to use a dual motor with the appropriate left and right coil to dispense the product or you can use two single motors (you will need a right and left spin motor) and the appropriate left and right spin coils. With the second option you will have a bit more flexibility down the road if you wanted to change the product or if the packaging changes. Then for even wider items you can use the two motors (a right and left spin) to dispense products that take up much more room. With using two motors they will need to be paired together so they will spin at the same time when the item is dispensed.
Once the correct coil has been selected and the width has been set the last piece is to set the timing of the coil. The timing of the coil is where the tip of the coil rests in the home position. Generally this will be set to the 6 o'clock position where the tip of the coil is at the bottom. Some items may struggle to dispense even if the coil and spacing is correct. This will generally be resolved by changing the timing of the coil. This will take a bit of trial and error to get right. To change the timing you can pull the coil out of the motor and rotate it to the desired position and then insert the coil back in. Two timing positions to try could be the 3 o’clock position and the 9 o’clock position. These two coil timings will fix many issues with dispensing however, your results may vary.
Sometimes after fine tuning the coils and the timing your product may need an extra push to get the product to dispense. If that is the case then you may want to utilize product pushers.
These will attach to the coil to help push products off the edge of the tray. Another use for these is if you have a taller item that you notice the top of your product is bridging on the glass these can be used to kick the bottom of the item out to prevent the bridging.
The last adjustment that you will want to make is adjusting the tray height. When adjusting the height on the tray you will want to leave about 1/2 to 1 inch of space between the top of your product and the tray above. This will assist with being able to restock as well as ensure the product is not getting caught or dragging across the tray above.