Products

Sentry XR

Sentry XR

Unprinted Ball Inspection

Automatic Golf Ball Inspection Machine

Strategic Automation has developed the world’s first fully automatic golf ball inspection machine capable of matching the precision of the human eye.  This machine is designed to inspect various cosmetic defects in finished or unprinted golf balls.  It has an operating rate of 35 balls per minute and can sort balls according to the type of defect found.  A four-station sequential operation allows for the detection of defects down to .003 inch square.  It is easily trained to inspect different products and dimple patterns.  Once it is trained, an operator just selects a ball from a list and it is ready to run, unattended, as long as a supply of balls is presented to it.  Defects are clearly displayed on the operator interface screen and the level of quality can be set to be as discerning as necessary.  Contact Strategic Automation for a demonstration of the revolutionary new machine.


Increase Operator Productivity

The machine can inspect 1300 dozen balls in a single shift

Maintain Consistency

The machine maintains a consistent quality standard.

Minimize Dust Contamination

Cameras and lighting are fully enclosed to minimize dust contamination.

Features

  •  Inspects for Dirt Marks on the entire surface of the ball.
  • Inspects for Discolorations (Haze) due to extraneous ink, bad paint, or bad cover material.
  • Inspects for Surface Flaws such as nail marks, paint globs, holes, foreign material, and molding defects, incomplete paint.
  • Inspects for Seam Flaws such as deep or shallow buffing, flashing not completely removed, torn sprues, etc.
  • Easily re-trainable by the end-user to run new ball types.  Some dimple patterns may require additional software.
  • Sorts balls to up to 4 categories (good and up to 3 categories of defects).  Balls that did not get properly inspected are sent to a fifth bin to be recycled through the machine.
  • LED lighting for long life and low power consumption.
  • 15-inch color touch-screen operator interface display.

Optional Items:

  • Custom offload designs to better fit the customer’s material handling requirements
  • Tooling and software for additional dimple patterns
  • Additional inspections required for individual customer’s needs
  • Hopper feed systems to deliver balls to the Sentry XR inspection machine

See the Sentry XR in action!

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Neptune-Sorting

Sorting

Neptune
Autonomous Sorting

Looking for a fast, accurate, contactless method of sorting any make or model of golf balls?

Strategic Automation is pleased to announce the introduction of our newest product: Neptune. Ideal for sorting recycled balls, Neptune can autonomously sort recycled golf balls at a rate of over 50 balls/minute!  Balls can be sorted by manufacturer, model, or color. A hopper/elevator can be installed on the front end to feed the balls into the machine automatically while a diverter track works on the back end to send sorted balls to up to 7 different containers.

Streamlined Dimensions

With the offload diverter installed, Neptune is 80″ long, 32″ deep, and 75″ high.  The hopper adds 60″ to the length.  At about 1000 lbs it’s light enough to use air freight for overseas delivery.

Flexible Sorting

You can program Neptune to sort by up to 6 different ball types at a time.  Any ball not identified goes into a 7th hopper which can then be run through the machine again and sorted for another 6 different characteristics.

Sales & Support

We supply a detailed manual that describes how to assemble the machine at your site, however if you do need remote or on-site assistance or training we can provide that for installation as well as programming for different ball types. We also supply complete replacement parts.

Warranty

Neptune comes with a 1 year complete warranty on all parts and engineering.

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Robo Logo

Robo Logo

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Neptune

Neptune

Autonomous Sorting

Looking for a fast, accurate, contactless method of sorting any make or model of golf balls?

Strategic Automation is pleased to announce the introduction of our newest product: Neptune. Ideal for sorting recycled balls, Neptune can autonomously sort recycled golf balls at a rate of over 50 balls/minute!  Balls can be sorted by manufacturer, model, or color. A hopper/elevator can be installed on the front end to feed the balls into the machine automatically while a diverter track works on the back end to send sorted balls to up to 7 different containers.

Streamlined Dimensions

With the offload diverter installed, Neptune is 80″ long, 32″ deep, and 75″ high.  The hopper adds 60″ to the length.  At about 1000 lbs it’s light enough to use air freight for overseas delivery.

Flexible Sorting

You can program Neptune to sort by up to 6 different ball types at a time.  Any ball not identified goes into a 7th hopper which can then be run through the machine again and sorted for another 6 different characteristics.

Sales & Support

We supply a detailed manual that describes how to assemble the machine at your site, however if you do need remote or on-site assistance or training we can provide that for installation as well as programming for different ball types. We also supply complete replacement parts.

Warranty

Neptune comes with a 1 year complete warranty on all parts and engineering.

Neptune Read More »

Robo-Buff

Robo-Buff

Orientation for Seam Buffing

Professional Alignment

The Robo-Buff aligns golf balls to the seam so that the seam flashing can be removed by the buffing machine.  It does so at a rate of 48 balls per minute with an accuracy of +/- 2 degrees. The orientation success rate is typically 99.5% which greatly improves seam buffing capabilities. Dimple patterns can be changed on the fly by loading the corresponding program so there are no mechanical adjustments needed with varying dimple patterns.

Allows for Improved Buffing Quality

Using machine vision, the Robo-Buff allows golf balls to be manufactured with smaller sprues. The reduced sprue size makes for a high quality seam since the seam buffer does not need to remove as much material.

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Sentry 1

Sentry 1

Ball & Print Inspection

Automatic Golf Ball Inspection Machine

Strategic Automation has developed the world’s first fully automatic golf ball inspection machine capable of matching the precision of the human eye.  This machine is designed to inspect various cosmetic defects in finished or unfinished golf balls.  It has an operating rate of 35 balls/min. and can sort balls according to the type of defect found.  An eight-station sequential operation allows for the detection of defects down to .003 inch square.  It is easily trained to inspect different products and ball numbers.  Once it is trained, an operator just selects a ball from a list and it is ready to run, unattended, as long as a supply of balls is presented to it.  Defects are clearly displayed on the operator interface screen and the level of quality can be set to be as discerning as necessary.  Contact Strategic Automation for a demonstration of the revolutionary new machine.


Increase Operator Productivity

The machine can inspect 1300 dozen balls in a single shift

Maintain Consistency

The machine maintains a consistent quality standard.

Minimize Dust Contamination

Cameras and lighting are fully enclosed to minimize dust contamination.

Features

  • Inspects for Print Quality including missing ink, extra ink, poor color registration, and missing or incorrect printing. 
  • Inspects for Dirt Marks on the entire surface of the ball.
  • Inspects for Discolorations (Haze) due to extraneous ink, bad paint, or bad cover material.
  • Inspects for Surface Flaws such as nail marks, paint globs, holes, foreign material, and molding defects, incomplete paint.
  • Inspects for Seam Flaws such as deep or shallow buffing, flashing not completely removed, torn sprues, etc.
  • Inspects for Preferential Stamping flaws.  That is, the side stamp did not get printed on the seam.
  • Easily re-trainable by the end-user to run new ball types.  Some dimple patterns may require additional software.
  • Sorts balls to up to 4 categories (good and up to 3 categories of defects).  Balls that did not get properly inspected are sent to a fifth bin to be recycled through the machine.
  • LED lighting for long life and low power consumption.
  • 15-inch color touch-screen operator interface display.

Optional Items:

  • Custom offload designs to better fit the customer’s material handling requirements
  • Tooling and software for additional dimple patterns
  • Additional inspections required for individual customer’s needs
  • Hopper feed systems to deliver balls to the Sentry-1 inspection machine
Specifications

See the Sentry 1 in action!

Sentry 1 Read More »

RL2

RL2/Robo-Logo

Orientation

In the game of golf, being first is all that matters.  Every time a player places a ball on a tee, there is an opportunity to make a quality impression. Ball manufacturers and ad specialty companies seek to maximize that opportunity by precisely printing visually appealing high-quality graphics. Like a player in competition, your company needs to be at peak performance. By utilizing technology that will give you the competitive advantage of reduced delivery times and production costs, and increased reliability and flexibility, you can edge out the competition.

Our machines use a revolutionary new way of producing custom logo golf balls or printing original manufacturer logos. Supply a stream of randomly oriented golf balls to it and it will rotate them to any desired orientation, relative to the manufacturer’s logo and side stamp, or relative to the ball dimple pattern, at a rate of up to 66 balls per minute.  It can do the work of up to five manual operators.  Imagine running a 2,000 dozen order in a single shift on a single printing machine!  The machine can be purchased as a complete printing system or integrated with your existing printing system.

The RL2 is our updated version of our classic Robo-Logo machine. Using state-of-the-art machine vision software and motion control hardware, the RL2 accelerates the performance of the Robo-Logo by 10%. Existing Robo-Logo customers can contact Strategic Automation for installation of RL2 software and hardware updates to their current Robo-Logo machines.

It’s a matter of precision and speed.

The challenge in printing golf balls is largely an issue of precision and speed. Logos need to be precisely positioned in relation to existing graphics or the dimple pattern. Traditionally, the industry has relied on manual labor. Not surprisingly, the process is slow, and operators are prone to fatigue and suffer from repetitive motion injuries.

Strategic Automation is the only company that offers an engineered solution to precisely position a ball every second.

Key Features

  • Rates up to 66 balls per minute.
  • Accuracy of +/- 0.031 inch.
  • On-the-fly change over of ball numbers or ball brands.
  • Computer can store setups for hundreds of brands.
  • Verifies proper ball orientation before printing.
  • Automatically rejects balls of wrong type.
  • Touch screen operator interface.
  • Built-in machine diagnostics, and real-time production statistics.
  • Password protected setup and diagnostic screens.
  • Remote diagnostic capability
  • May be integrated with many different types and brands of pad printers and pad printing systems.
  • Higher operator productivity.
  • Eliminates a source of repetitive motion injuries.
  • Reduced training period for new employees.
  • Reduced delivery time for large orders.
  • Easy to operate and maintain.
  • Requires minimal floor space.

Advantages:

  • Higher operator productivity.
  • Eliminates a source of repetitive motion injuries.
  • Reduced training period for new employees.
  • Reduced delivery time for large orders.
  • Easy to operate and maintain.
  • Requires minimal floor space.
  • Dim: 74”H x 48”W x 33”D

Add-Ons

  • Hopper/Elevator system to feed golf balls into the Robo-Logo machine. 
  • As few as one hopper or as many as four can be used to feed balls allowing for quick changeovers.
  • Precision indexing conveyor, or rotary table, to feed balls through pad printer
  • Ball rotation device for printing at a second location on the ball.
  • Vision system to automatically inspect the printed logos.
  • Automatic unloading of printed balls to drying trays or drying conveyor.
  • UV curing equipment.

Power Requirements

  • Power: 120 VAC, 1 ph, 60hz, 7 amps.
  • Air: 0.3 cfm at 90 psi

RL2 Read More »

Core-X

Core X

Automatic Golf Ball
X-ray Inspection Machine

Core-X is capable of measuring concentricity of golf ball core layers at high rates of speed.  The machine will take high-resolution images in multiple cross-sections of a multi-layer golf ball and use machine vision software to discern Go from No-Go. The balls are dropped into one of two specific chutes for golf ball mass production.

Advantages

Better Inspections

Increased inspection productivity.  Core shifts and outer layer thickness issues are quickly found.

Fully Enclosed

Unit is fully enclosed for safe operation.

Standardized Equipment

Meets or exceeds FDA and OSHA standards.

PC Based machine vision software for three modes:

Normal (Sort) Mode

100% sort at speed – able to discern Go/No-Go and route into appropriate chutes.

Manual (Lab) Mode

Operator places ball in machine at a set position to measure data for cover thicknesses at known locations on the ball.  Cycle times for this mode are higher.

Setup mode

Used for calibration, verification of known good / bad product and any maintenance functions.

Features

  • Ports to allow product to flow into and out of machine without allowing X-rays to escape.
  • Automation to present, load, rotate, and remove the balls from the machine.
  • Offload section to send the good and reject balls into two separate containers (by customer).
  • Includes necessary guarding and interlocks as well as ‘X-Ray ON’ warning beacon.
  • Allen-Bradley PLC and industrially hardened PC for high reliability.
  • Network connectivity for remote data gathering or troubleshooting.
  • Operator can manually control ball rotation speed and direction while viewing ball in real-time.
  • Golf ball manipulator can be easily removed for maintenance.
  • 15-inch color touch-screen operator interface.
  • Ergonometric display monitor arm with keyboard holder tray.
  • Storage of measurement results in a database for further analysis.
  • Automatic recording of images of rejects for later analysis of machine performance.

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Orientation

RL2

Precision Golf Ball Orienting Machine

While others have tried, only one company offers an engineered solution that precisely positions a ball every second (plus or minus 0.031”).  The RL2 golf ball orienting machine is a revolutionary new way of producing custom logo golf balls or printing original manufacturer logos. Supply a stream of randomly oriented golf balls to it and it will rotate them to any desired orientation, relative to the manufacturer’s logo and side stamp, or relative to the ball dimple pattern, at a rate of up to 60 balls per minute.  It can do the work of up to five manual operators. Imagine running a 2,000 dozen order in a single shift on a single printing machine!

The RL2 can be purchased as a complete printing system or integrated with customer’s existing printing system.

Orientation Read More »