Several physical adjustments are required before setting the actual index time, when the bottle or container is first run, or when switching from one bottle to another on the filling machine. You need to adjust the guide on the power conveyor in the filling area for the container to be used. Too tight a guide may hinder the progress of the container on the conveyor, slowing down the indexing time. The width of the guide is too wide, and the container may be tilted or misaligned under the filling head. This adjustment can be done by simply setting the container to the conveyor belt and using the handle to adjust the height and width of the guide rail along the transmission system.

 

    Once the conveyor has been adjusted, the bottle should be arranged in the fill area and under the filling head. If you move from one bottle to another, you may need to adjust the filling head position. This is simple enough to achieve by loosening the handle and slipping the filler head onto the bottle line before resetting the nozzle. Once the fill head is in place, you may need to make some adjustments or transformations to the index system component. For example, if you use pin points, the entry and exit will need to be repositioned in front of the first bottle and the last bottle. These goalkeeping bottles are in place, but different bottles or container sizes and sizes will require different pin locations. This is usually done by loosening the bolt and sliding the pin into position. The star wheel and screw indexing system may need to replace one star wheel or screw with one size. Again, this is usually done by loosening and tightening a few bolts.

 

    Finally, once the indexing system is established and the bottle is still in place, the operator should add an extra bottle to the side of the filling machine. The bottle will be used to set the counting sensor of the filling machine. The counting sensor reads the readings for each bottle entering the filling area. When the correct number of bottles is "counted", the machine will start the indexing system, stop the bottle in the correct position and start each filling cycle.

 

    Once the physical aspect of the indexing system has been adjusted, the filling machine operator must find the index time of the container running on the packaging system. Most automatic filling machines will include several different screens on the operator interface. Before setting the actual index time, several Settings need to be checked. The operator interface will contain the feed container count preset, usually under the "reset" screen. This is the number of bottles counted per filling cycle. For most index types, this setting is equal to the number of filling heads on the wrapper machine. However, when using the star wheel index, it is usually set to half the filling head, because the star wheel count works with the pins on the star wheel. Under the fill Settings screen,

 

    The final step is to set the actual index time, which is much less than the time required for most automatic filling machines. The container is arranged on the conveyor belt, each filled with the first one, plus a conveyor belt, and the operator will enter the automatic index setting menu. Once inside the submenu, you can set index time for a particular container by pressing the start ASU index button. The container will be indexed by the machine, and once the correct number of containers is passed, the sensor will close the door to stop the index. You can then save the index time, or you can run the automatic Settings again to get different times.