Badger Meter (Milwaukee) manufactures equipment for measuring and controlling the flow of liquids in various applications. The company's products include water meters for homes, businesses and fire hydrants; metering equipment for mixing concrete; and control valves for handling water, acids, bases, fuels and other chemicals.

When Badger needed automated equipment to assemble a pair of new water meters, the company turned to DEPRAG Inc. (Lewisville, TX) for help. One of the meters required six screws; the other needed eight.

The system consists of six stations. Parts are loaded at the first station and aligned at the second. At the third station, the parts are pressed together, and the bolts are automatically fed and installed at the correct torque. The meters are tested for leaks at the fourth station, and they're stamped with an identification code at the next station. The meters are unloaded at the final station.

Besides DEPRAG's screwdriving equipment, the system includes a Cartesian robot from Intelligent Actuator Inc. (Torrance, CA); a pallet-transfer conveyor from Bosch Rexroth Corp. (Buchanan, MI); an ink marker from Sprinter Marking Inc. (Zanesville, OH); and a mass-flow meter from Aalborg (Orangeburg, NY).

For more information about automated screwdriving and assembly systems, call DEPRAG at 800-4-DEPRAG, visit www.deprag.com, or Reply 2.