Quality By Vision Clearance Gauge: Double Seamer Setup and Adjustment System

Imagine a tool that takes the guesswork out of seamer setup, improves seam integrity and consistency, increases uptime and makes changeovers much faster than previously possible. Our Clearance Gauge is all this and more.

With rising pressures on canneries and can makers to increase productivity, minimize changeover time and unplanned stops and ensure higher quality closures, accurate seamer setup has never been more important. Often, companies make due with just meeting the seam specifications, often ignoring high variation between different heads on the same seamer and missing hard to detect issues like microleakers.

This often means that the slightest change in incoming materials, like end plate thickness, can flange, can height and the seamer’s own tolerances will cause some of the seams to go out of specs.

The Clearance Gauge is able to not only quickly and accurately set up the seamer and fix issues that come up from time to time, it makes sure that all seamer heads are performing perfectly and identically. This means that seamers will run better, and require adjustments less often and less downtime! Not only are you saving time – you are also reducing unplanned stops.

Some canners are increasing the amount and frequency of seam checks and subsequently have to stop the line more often, or use expensive systems like X-rays or online systems to ensure more seams are within tolerance. Isn’t it a better idea to simply produce better seams rather than checking more often for bad ones? The system allows you to do preventative maintenance on your seamers before they go out of specs.

Today
Most companies use feeler gauges or wire gauges to try and determine if there is enough distance between the roll and chuck. Of course, this is an inaccurate and difficult procedure even in the hands of experienced seamer mechanics. Similarly inaccurate methods are used for adjusting roll height off the chuck.

More often than not, rolls need to be readjusted after the first seam check and as the seamer warms up. For vertical adjustment, most companies use a vertical “pin height gauge”. However, the height and lateral distance adjustment affect one another because of the shapes of the roll and chuck profiles.

In some cases, problems with the seam are often solved by tightening the 2nd operation, whereas the real solution could be that the 1st operation should actually be tightened or even loosened!

Enter The Clearance Gauge
The Clearance Gauge takes a completely different approach to the problem. Instead of focusing on checking seams after the double seam is already complete, the Clearance Gauge helps optimize the can seaming process by taking out variations between the different seamer heads and looking at the seamer itself!

Today, the Clearance Gauge is compatible with most seamer models, including most Angelus, Continental, Ferrum seamers and many more. These seamers show a clear and dramatic performance improvements using this gauge. This tool helps produce better double seams quicker. Instead of increasing the rate and frequency of seam scope checks. For the first time, you can see what your can seamer is doing before you even start running cans through the line!

Conclusions
Whereas most settings on the double seamer, such as lifter pressure and height are relatively easy to adjust and control, the roll to chuck relationship is difficult. Until today, seamer mechanics used feeler gauges, but the process was long and very inaccurate – resulting in bad and inconsistent seams, seamers going out of specs quickly and various problems that could not be easily traced.

The Clearance gauge solves all of these problems by offering an easy solution to seamer setup and adjustment.