The pallet market has changed a lot over the last decade. Increasingly, pallet companies are doing more with less when it comes to workers and poor-quality used pallets. Finding a solution to these two problems is the core mission behind the latest pallet nailing machine from Viper Industrial Products. The company has pioneered the new Honey Badger nailing line to efficiently produce re-manufactured and combo pallets with recycled lumber.
Todd Mazur, president of Viper Industrial Products, explained why his company developed the Honey Badger line of pallet machinery. He said, “Over the last four years, Viper has sold over 140 pallet machines. Customers repeatedly asked if we had a machine that effectively works with recycled lumber. What started out as a trend has become a sea change as pallet companies are producing more pallets out of recycled material.”
Mazur added, “Today, there are fewer cores on the market; the ones that do exist are more deteriorated than they were 10 years ago. Pallet companies are forced to produce more combo pallets or remanufactured units. You can’t just replace a board or two anymore and send it out the door.”
Pioneering A Better Way
But developing a nailing line that can really deal with a wide variety of recycled lumber boards is a tough challenge. Slight differences in board thickness as well as board condition can lead to disruptions in automation.
Originally, Viper worked with Jerry and Chris Cousins at Shipping Resources in Garfield, Arkansas, to develop the prototype machine. With 35 years of industry experience, this recycler contributed a lot of unique ideas for the first-generation machine. It was designed to accommodate random width and other board challenges. But that first design was far from perfect.
Tony Grilo, Director of Automation for Viper Industrial, worked for Bostitch developing custom machines. He later worked for Caterpillar and specialized in pneumatic energy, PLC controls and various automation technologies. Grilo commented, “When I joined Viper, I saw the prototype and was impressed with it. However, I noticed some things that needed to be improved.”
Grilo said, “One of the issues with the prototype is its use of pneumatic logic. It would be like ordering a new truck and demanding a carburetor instead of fuel injection. It’s going backward in technology.” Grilo described, “The second-generation machine has PLC controls, which allows a lot more flexibility which actually improves a core concept of simplicity. You’re able to set timers, you’re able to set delays, and so on and so forth with lasers, and the processor can do calculations for you. “
One of the challenges Viper faced was the nail patterns. A variety of board dimensions can lead to variant nail patterns. Grilo answered, “What we were able to do with a PLC is to run a laser that actually measures the board, calculates the board width and develops a nail pattern for each individual board. You now have perfectly placed nails on every board – no matter how wide or how narrow each one is.”
While pneumatic logic is considered simpler to operate, it can be harder to troubleshoot according to Viper. Mazur explained, “Now, if you’ve run that pneumatic machine for five years and are fully versed in that machine, you can probably troubleshoot it fairly quickly. But most pallet shops have a lot of turnover. It is harder to keep employees running the same machine for years and years. When the operator leaves, all their knowledge on that machine goes with them.”
The Honey Badger comes with a touchscreen operator interface panel that quickly alerts the operator to any issue. If something is not in place, if there’s an air pressure fault for example, the panel tells you right on the screen what is wrong and how to fix it. Grilo stated, “For the second-generation machine, the operator had never built a pallet on a machine before in his life. He was building pallets by noon and was able to be left alone to produce them by the second day. Within a week, he was operating the machine at 80% efficiency. The learning curve to be proficient at building combo pallet is accelerated.”
Another issue with pneumatic logic is air requirements for efficient operation. Grilo said, “Air has to be extremely dry. It must be moisture and dust free. You can’t get by with difficult pallet shop air. Now, most places run a dryer, what we called refrigerated dryer. Well, refrigerated dryers do not get the air dry enough for pneumatic logic. If you get a little bit of moisture in pneumatic logic, you have problems galore. You’re required to use a desiccant dryer, which robs 15% of the air produced just to get through that desiccant dryer.”
Grilo added, “When you start looking at your energy cost to create air pressure, it is by far the most expensive energy source in any manufacturing plant. We wanted to get away from that operating cost.”
Viper put a coalescing filter on the inlet. It separates any moisture to a level that’s acceptable for the machine. This simple, inexpensive filter allows the Honey Badger to run on standard, run-of-the-mill air. In addition, Viper upgraded the structural strength of the components opting for heavier gauge steel on all components. Also, Viper uses name brand parts, such as Siemens PLCs and SMC cylinder valves. These components can be easily sourced from suppliers globally.
Mazur admitted, “We underestimated the challenges, and the varying degrees of material that is considered recycled lumber. That drove the second-generation machine design.” Originally, Viper thought the variance would be a sixth of an inch to a quarter of an inch per board. But recycler loads started coming in with a half an inch or more in board thickness variance. Grilo stated, “Our new design can handle those large variances. This can reduce some of the sorting requirements. But the greater the variance, the less production you will get out of the system.”
Mazur explained, “Our target was to produce 400 pallets per eight-hour shift with one operator. The machine can build one pallet every 45 seconds. But the difference in manipulating the material could be five to fifteen seconds per pallet. The second-generation design seeks to limit operator movement and keep the person in one place as much as possible.”
From Start to Finish
The Honey Badger process starts with loading the stringers. Then the operator clamps the stringers in place. This will straighten the stringer out a bit if it is warped. Next you lay the bottom deck boards in place to produce whatever pattern you want. Hit the start button. Then the hold down bars will come over, holding the deck boards in place. The gantry will come down and nail. When it’s down at the end and done nailing, then the hold down bars will open. The gantry returns home. You flip the pallet over by hand. You hit your start button again. The holdover bars come in place. The gantry comes down and nails the other side. The gantry drags the pallet out into the stacker and counts the unit. When the desired stack height is reached, the system kicks out the stack onto an exit conveyor. Currently, the system is designed for four stacks plus the one in the magazine itself.
Another important feature that Viper added is forward lead board stops. This reduces the time spent by the operator aligning boards.
Traditional machines require that you enter the nail pattern and board configuration first. A nail gun will nail recycled lumber, but it’s the programming and the setup that doesn’t allow other machines to shoot recycled lumber. That’s where Viper’s laser scanner comes into play.
Smart Laser Scanner System
Viper has pioneered a system that uses a laser that looks at the edge of the board and runs across the board measuring its width. This information is calculated by the PLC telling the nail gun what pattern to fire. Grilo said, “All it takes is just a little gap between the board. You could actually put boards with an eighth inch gap, and the laser will see it as a different board and come up with a different nail pattern for the next board.”
The operator programs into the PLC the placement of the first nail from the edge and the distance between the nails. It then calculates the remainder to allow for an evenly spaced nail pattern on every board. Grilo said, “Some competitors used a similar system, but what they are not able to do is to develop a nail pattern for each individual board. They’re basically setting it up to fire. It waits so long, fires, waits so long, fires, and so on. If it happens to hit on the edge, it just happens to hit on the edge. The Honey Badger machine will not do that. You won’t get a nail on the edge of the board.”
Another big innovation involves board placement. The Honey Badger has a unique feature to hold boards of varying sizes in place. Unlike a traditional jig approach, this system can form to the various sized boards placed on the nailing platform.
Mazur explained, “I would like to take credit for idea but it was Jerry Cousin’s who came up with it. It’s similar to an angle gauge or the pin art game we had when we were kids. It has the little board, and you can put your hand or face in it, and it forms to the object. Basically, all those little pins surround each curve of the object. That was his idea to be able to find something that would hold those boards down. Now the pins are actually industrial washers that form to the pallet. When the arm comes down and holds the boards in place, everywhere there’s a board, the washers are standing up. Everywhere there’s not a board, the washers are dropped down.”
This unique holding system will accommodate various thicknesses and widths of boards. Viper is exploring options to patent the idea.
Wood Quality Caused Unexpected Issues
Since Viper is trying to do something that has never been done in the past, it is reasonable that there were challenges with the first few installations. Mazur said, “We told one initial customer to throw the worst lumber they could find at the Honey Badger.. They started putting inch and an eighth boards and half inch lead boards on the machine.”
The size variance caused an issue with the stacker and conveyor. Mazur explained, “The one inch and an eighth board caused the middle of the pallet to be taller than the edge board. When it kicked out to the stacker, the edge board was a half inch off, the conveyor couldn’t pick it up. It’s like a teeter-totter, like a see-saw. The exit conveyor going to the stacker would just sit there and run and run.”
Viper redesigned the stacker and exit conveyor to accommodate the variance. Mazur suggested that current users are getting anywhere between 350 and 400 pallets per shift with one operator. He said, “It all depends on whether you are running four-inch wood boards, which requires more boards and takes longer to place.” Are the operators having to flip boards to put old bent over nails down? The better you can sort in advance, the higher production you can get from the machine.
Grilo agreed, “You don’t have to sit there with a micrometer measuring boards, but the person that’s sorting them out throwing thin boards here, thick boards there, fours and sixes, it’s taking him less time to throw them into different bins than it is the operator at the machine.”
Also, the better the stacking process, the easier it is for operators to pull off boards at the machine. Nice stacks equal faster production at the nailing line. This might require another person in the sorting or dismantling operation. But it could significantly boost production on any machine. The good news with the Honey Badger is that this step isn’t necessary to run the machine. It is just optimal to get the most out of it.
Equipment Ready to Deliver
Viper decided to switch manufacturing sources that offered better resources and technology. Mazur commented, “The original machine was antiquated and slow with a max production of 250 pallets. Our other major challenge was to secure production capacity for machinery. Our existing partner at the time was too far out on orders and didn’t have the capacity to meet growing customer demand. We needed a manufacturer that could produce five machines a month. Not two machines every six months.”
That is why Viper decided to source the machinery from a quality machinery manufacturer in Asia. Mazur commented, “During the qualification process when they were building the second-generation machine, Tony went over to view the plant in Asia. He said that he has never seen a manufacturing machine shop that had the capabilities that this company had. The company was able to produce parts from a basic sketch, finalize the design, 3D render it and produce the part in a matter of hours.
Grilo said, “I truly believe that if we needed 10 machines in a month, they could probably get ten machines built in a month. That’s the amount of capacity that they have.”
Mazur commented, “The labor problem that this country is experiencing is happening now. It’s not happening in a year from now.” That is why the capacity of Viper’s Asian manufacturing partner put it in a position to quickly respond to demand.
Mazur added, “We are negotiating with a large regional company that has expanded on the labor savings benefit of the Honey Badger machine. This company believes it will open up a whole new labor pool for women in the workforce. Some of the physical challenges of building combo pallets is holding a nail gun for eight hours and stacking pallets. With those two issues eliminated, the Honey Badger not only allows women to enter the pallet labor sector but will also reduce fatigue and workers comp claims for any person operating the machine.”
Beyond its new Honey Badger system, Viper offers custom machine design and fabrication. Mazur said that he is currently working on a project for a machine that is capable of producing a 13-foot pallet. If you have a unique or challenging application, Viper may have a solution. The company also sells pneumatic tools and fasteners and a full line of bulk nails to the pallet industry. For more information, call 501-679-6814, visit www.makepalletsgreatagain.com or email cs@viper-us.com.
