Weigh Fillers

Information:

The very accurate and easy to operate model N-3 semi-automatic scale has automatic tare, automatic feed and speed controls for both bulk and dribble feed rates, and automatic set points. The feed pan is tilt-adjustable to give additional product flow control. The product flow from the hopper to the feed pan can also be controlled by an adjustable slide gate.

Example: To run a relatively free-flowing product into a 1lb. package, the product is loaded into the hopper, and the total weight is set at 1lb. The product feed is tested and the feed pan tilt adjusted. The package is placed on top of the scale, and the table is adjusted (up/down) so that the funnel is inside the bag in order to keep the bag “standing” when empty. After starting the first fill cycle with the foot pedal, the controller will automatically switch into “learn mode” for the first cycle. During this time the controller tests the flow characteristics of the product and decides the best speeds and durations for bulk and dribble. The controller will automatically change the vibratory feed from bulk to dribble and stop the scale at 1lb. The bag is removed and sealed. Each successive container is now filled by placing it under the funnel and depressing the foot pedal.

All product contact surfaces are stainless steel and easily disassembled: two screw knobs hold the funnel, two screw knobs hold the vibratory feed, four nuts hold the hopper. If needed, the scale and control panel can be removed from the table, and the table can be removed from the frame.

Specifications:

	Overall height 64"
	Hopper Size 24"x 24" @ 3.5cu.ft.
	Table Size 16" wide x 18" deep. Table height adjustable to accommodate containers from 3" to 18" high
	Scale Total Weight 135lbs.
	Standard Funnel Size (O.D.) 3"
	Optional Funnel to 3/4"

1. What is the N-3?

The N-3 is used to fill containers with an operator specified amount (weight) of material from a bulk hopper. It can be used in an “automatic” mode where the N-3 controller tries to determine the operating parameters or in a “manual or “user” mode where the operator supplies the operating parameters.

In the “automatic” mode the operator simply tells the N-3 how much material he/she would like in the container, puts a container under the funnel, and presses the footswitch. The N-3 will automatically “learn” how to fill the container optimizing for accuracy and speed.

The N-3 can also be used in a “User” mode where the operator can manually enter all of the machine parameters. This is usually used for difficult or unusual materials.

2. Unpacking and assembling your new N-3

	You must do a small amount of setup when unpacking and assembling you N-3 for the first time.
	Remove packing material
	Install the 4 casters on the bottom of the machine. Be sure to use the lock washers provided to ensure that the casters do not loosen over time.
	Plug in the controller
	Plug the power cord into a 120V outlet.

3. Getting to know the N-3

You are now ready to get acquainted with your N-3. Locate the following items on your N-3:

	Bulk Hopper This large stainless steel hopper is where you will put your bulk material.
	Gate The Gate is attached to the Bulk Hopper with a single clamping knob that loosens and tightens. Loosen the clamping knob and notice that the gate can be raised and lowered to limit the material flow down the Feed Pan. Along with the angle of the Feed Pan, the height of the Gate is another important adjustment in optimizing the N-3’s operation.
	Feed Pan The bulk material flows down from the Bulk Hopper onto the Feed Pan. The Feed Pan is attached to the Bulk Hopper by 2 large clamping knobs that can be loosened and tightened. There are 3 holes so the Feed Pan can be mounted higher or lower under the Bulk Hopper depending on the size of the material. Loosen the large clamping knobs and notice that the Feed Pan swivels up and down on the 2 large clamping knobs. The angle of the Feed Pan is an important adjustment you will make to optimize the N-3’s operation.
	Table The Table raises and lowers to give the operator a place to put his/her container while the N-3 fills it. It slides up and down in a guide tube and once at a comfortable height, it can be locked in place with the Table locking screw located beneath the Table. Loosen the Table locking screw and notice how the table moves up and down.
	Scale The scale sits on the Table. It connects to the back of the Controller. The operator places the container to be filled on top of the Scale while it is being filled by the N-3. The scale allows the Controller to weigh the amount of material in the container while the container is being filled.
	Controller The controller is the “brain” of the N-3. It contains a small computer that controls the speed of the vibrator motor and interfaces with the operator through the footswitch, front panel switches and front panel LCD display.
	Foot Switch The footswitch will normally sit on the floor. It is used by the operator to start a fill cycle. If it is pressed before the container is filled, the N-3 will pause. Pressing the Foot Switch again will resume the fill cycle.

4. Getting to know the N-3 Controller

You are now ready to get to know your N-3 controller. Locate the following items on the controller

	Power Switch The power switch is located on the bottom of the Controller.
	LCD display The LCD display is a 4 line by 16 character display that is used by the controller to communicate to the user.
	Keypad The Keypad has 16 keys and is used by the operator to communicate with the controller. The keys “0” thru “9” , “.” And “Enter” keys are used to make menu selections and to enter values. The “C/CE” key is used to clear an erroneously entered value while entering a new parameter. The up and down arrow keys are used for scrolling through menus or data. The “Home” key takes you back to the main menu from any screen. This last key keeps you from getting lost in the menus. It also allows easier communications for our telephone technical support. For example, no matter what screen you are in, pressing “Home 1” will tare the scale. Pressing “Home 24” will save the current job.
	Fuse The fuse is located in the power entry block. The power cord must be removed to replace the fuse. If there is no display when the power switch is turned on, unscrew the Fuse and visually inspect it to see if it is blown. Replace it with a fuse of the correct value (4 amps).

5. Operating your N-3 for the very first time (in Automatic Mode)

You are now ready to turn your N-3 on for the first time. We will first setup a new job filling 0.50 lb containers in “automatic” mode. This mode lets the controller adjust itself for optimum performance.

	Turn on the Controller Every time the controller is turned on using the power switch, the LCD screen displays a short “splash” screen that indicates the model number and revision number. You should see a line like “S3 Rev 2.11”. In this example, the first part of the message “S3” would tell you that the controller is setup for the Model N-3 machine. If this first part shows “S4”, call for instructions on changing it to “S3”. The “Rev 2.11” part of the message is indicating the software revision in the controller (2.11 in this example). Write this down so that if you need to call with a question, they will know what machine you have. Once the “splash” screen has past, the next screen will show a short menu, a “Job number”, an indication of whether the current job is “automatic” or “manual”, and the weight indicated by the scale. The “Job number” is the job currently being used. The controller can store several jobs that the operator has setup and saved in its internal memory and the operator can recall those jobs later on. A Job is a set of parameters that tell the controller how to fill a particular container with a particular amount of material. All jobs are saved when the power is removed. There are 2 characters after the job number. They will either be “Au” indicating that the currently loaded job is an “automatic” mode job or “Us” indicating the current job is a “User” mode job. An automatic job means the controller will constantly adjust the job parameters during operation and a user job will use fixed operator supplied parameters and will make no adjustments. The weight of the material currently on the Scale will be shown on the bottom right side of the LCD display. If you connected the scale you should be able to make this weight change by pressing on the Scale.
	Load a Job We will load job number 1 for this example. Load the current job number 1 from the controller’s memory by pressing “Home 23” to get to the load job screen. You will be asked to enter the job number you want to load. Press “1” and then “Enter” to load the parameters currently saved in job#1. After hitting “Enter” you will be returned to the main screen. Notice that the bottom line of the display starts with “Job: 1”. This is telling you that job number 1 is being used.
	Setup Operating Modes Now we need to tell the controller to use “automatic mode” for this job. This allows the controller to try and optimize the running parameters while it is running. Press “Home 22” to get to the “Edit Modes” menu. The first item in this menu should be “Mode”. By pressing the “1” key you can toggle the mode from “Auto” to “User”. Toggle the mode to indicate “Auto”.
	Set Target Weight Since we are going to run in “Automatic” mode for this example, the only parameter we need to adjust is the target weight. Press “Home 215” to get to the target weight entry screen. This will prompt you for a target weight. Enter “0.5” followed by the “Enter” key. You will now be returned to the run parameter screen which shows all of the operating parameters. Since we will be running in “Automatic” mode you will not have to change any of these other items. You can uses the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Turn On “Learn” Mode The last thing we need to do is to tell the controller to do a “Learn” cycle. The learn cycle is done the first time a new job is run in automatic mode so the controller can get a “feel” for how the material flows. The controller in actually learning on every cycle if it is running in automatic mode but for the very first cycle we will tell it to very carefully learn the characteristics of the material and how it flows. To tell the controller to “Learn” on the first cycle press “Home 3” to go to the “Utility” screen and then press “3” to toggle the learn mode from “Off” to “On”. Press the “Home” key to return to the opening screen.
	Tare the Scale With nothing on the Scale, press “Home 1”. The display should read “0.000”. This removes any offset in the scale so that anything you now put on the scale will be weighed from a value of zero. Check Calibration of the Scale Place a known weight on the scale and see if it is accurate. If it is not, you must “calibrate the scale”. To calibrate the scale, first tare the scale (see above), then put an object of known weight on the scale. Press “Home 31” to get to the calibrate screen. You will be prompted to enter the weight of the object you put on the scale. Enter the weight of the object and press “Enter”. You will be returned to the main screen where you should see the correct weight for the object on the scale.
	Adjust the Feed Pan and Gate The angle of the Feed Pan, The height of the Feed Pan, and the Height of the Gate will determine how freely the material flows into the container. Free flowing materials in general need more restriction (less angle of the Feed Pan, higher Feed Pan height, and lower Gate) and less free flowing material usually need less restriction (higher angle Feed Pan, lower Feed Pan height, and higher Gate) you will have to experiment with these 3 settings. Generally, if the motor is running at a very high speed and it takes a long time to fill the container, the restriction must be reduced (higher angle Feed Pan, lower Feed Pan height, and higher Gate). If the container overfills the restriction must be increased (lower angle Feed Pan, higher Feed Pan height and lower Gate).
	Put some material in the Hopper Put your material in the Hopper. It should flow down into the Feed Pan. You may have to push some material down into the Feed Pan to get things started.
	Put your container on the Scale and press “Home 1” to tare the scale Put your container on the Scale and adjust the height of the Table so that the container is just below but does not touch the Feed Pan or Feed Pan Funnel. Bags need to extend up to the angled part of the discharge funnel. Press “Home 1” to zero the scale and remove the weight of the container.
	Press the Foot Switch Press the Foot Switch to start the fill cycle. The Controller will very slowly increase the power to the vibrator as it “learns” or tries to judge how to best fill this container with the given material. During the first cycle the Controller operates very slowly while it is trying to figure things out. When the container has been filled the display will indicate the weight of the material on the Scale. You will notice that after the “Learn Cycle” each subsequent container will fill a bit more quickly. This is because the controller is continuously trying to optimize the fill accuracy and speed.
	Fine Tuning If you find the vibrator motor is running very fast and/or it takes a long time for the container to fill, you may have the Feed Pan and Gate too restrictive for the material in the Bulk Hopper. On the other hand, if the container fills quickly but is not very accurate, the Feed Pan and Gate are not restrictive enough. Generally the Feed Pan should contain one layer of material when the container is filling. For example, if you are filling a container with beans, you should observe a continuous flow of beans in the Feed Pan, one bean deep that flows smoothly and evenly. If there are gaps or open spots where you can see the bottom of the Feed Pan, you should open up the gate and/or make the angle of the Feed Pan steeper.
	Re-entering the Learn Cycle If you make a major adjustment to the Bulk Hopper Gate or the Feed Pan Angle, you should force the N-3 Controller to start the “Learn Cycle” from the beginning. To do this, simply press “Home 33” to toggle the learn cycle on. You can usually make small adjustments to the Gate without re-entering the “Learn Cycle”.
	Save the Job After operating several cycles, you should notice that the N-3 has figured out how to fill your containers quickly and accurately. You should now save the job so that the next time you turn the machine on, all the current operating parameters are saved. The N-3 does not automatically save jobs. You must save the job. To do this simply press “Home 24” This will save all of the current parameters so that the next time you load this job from the controllers memory, it will operate just as it did the last time you saved the job.

6. Operating your N-3 in the User Mode

There are times when the material in the Bulk Hopper does not lend itself very well to the “Automatic” mode of operation. Materials that are “sticky” or inconsistent can “fool” the controller in the automatic mode. These materials usually run better in the “User” mode. When using the Controller in this mode, the operator must enter all of the operating parameters using Keypad.

The Fill Process
The N-3 Controller in User mode fills a container as follows. It fills the major portion of the container at a high speed (Bulk Speed) until it reaches a certain weight (Bulk Cutoff). It then fills the remainder of the container at a slower speed (Dribble Speed) until it reaches a terminal weight (Dribble Cutoff). The terminal weight is usually a bit less than the final weight because a small amount of material falls into the container after the vibrator motor turns off.
For example, if the operator was filling bags with 5 pounds of rice, he/she might program the N-3 Controller to fill the first 4.75 pounds at a high vibrator motor speed. The Bulk Cutoff would be 4.75 pounds and the Bulk Speed might be 50% of full motor speed. The remaining pound of material might then get filled at a lower vibrator motor speed. The operator might program a Dribble Speed of 20% and a Dribble Cutoff of 4.98 pounds guessing that the final 0.02 pounds will fall into the container after the controller turns off the vibrator motor.

The following is a step-by-step description of operating the N-3 in User Mode:

	Turn on the Controller Every time the controller is turned on using the power switch, the LCD screen displays a short “splash” screen that indicates the model number and revision number. You should see a line like “S3 Rev 2.11”. In this example, the first part of the message “S3” would tell you that the controller is setup for the Model N-3 machine. If this first part shows “S4”, call for instructions on changing it to “S3”. The “Rev 2.11” part of the message is indicating the software revision in the controller (2.11 in this example). Once the “splash” screen has past, the next screen will show a short menu, a “Job number”, an indication of whether the current job is “automatic” or “manual”, and the weight indicated by the scale. The “Job number” is the job currently being used. The controller can store several jobs that the operator has setup and saved in its internal memory and the operator can recall those jobs later on. A Job is a set of parameters that tell the controller how to fill a particular container with a particular amount of material. All jobs are saved when the power is removed. There are 2 characters after the job number. They will either be “Au” indicating that the currently loaded job is an “automatic” mode job or “Us” indicating the current job is a “User” mode job. An automatic job means the controller will constantly adjust the job parameters during operation and a user job will use fixed operator supplied parameters and will make no adjustments. The weight of the material currently on the Scale will be shown on the bottom right side of the LCD display. If you connected the scale you should be able to make this weight change by pressing on the Scale.
	Load a Job We will load job number 2 for this example. Load the current job number 2 from the controller’s memory by pressing “Home 23” to get to the load job screen. You will be asked to enter the job number you want to load. Press “2” and then “Enter” to load the parameters currently saved in job#2. After hitting “Enter” you will be returned to the main screen. Notice that the bottom line of the display starts with “Job: 2”. This is telling you that job number 2 is being used.
	Setup Operating Modes Now we need to tell the controller to use “user” mode for this job. This forces the controller to use operator supplied parameters while it is running. Press “Home 22” to get to the “Edit Modes” menu. The first item in this menu should be “Mode”. By pressing the “1” key you can toggle the mode from “Auto” to “User”. Toggle the mode to indicate “User”
	Set the Bulk Cutoff Weight If we are running the job described above we will want to enter the bulk cutoff weight of 4.75 lbs. Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list. Press the “1” key to edit the bulk cutoff weight. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired bulk cutoff weight and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Bulk Speed Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. Press the “2” key to edit the bulk speed. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired bulk speed and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Dribble Cutoff Weight Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. Press the “3” key to edit the dribble cutoff weight. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired dribble cutoff weight and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Dribble Speed Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. Press the “4” key to edit the dribble speed. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired dribble speed and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Target Weight Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. You can use the up and down arrow keys to view all the parameters. Press the “5” key to edit the target weight. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired target weight and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Tare the Scale With nothing on the Scale, press”Home 1”. The display should read “0.000”. This removes any offset in the scale so that anything you now put on the scale will be weighed from a value of zero.
	Check Calibration of the Scale Place a known weight on the scale and see if it is accurate. If it is not, you must “calibrate the scale”. To calibrate the scale, first tare the scale (see above), then put an object of known weight on the scale. Press “Home 31” to get to the calibrate screen. You will be prompted to enter the weight of the object you put on the scale. Enter the weight of the object and press “Enter”. You will be returned to the main screen where you should see the correct weight for the object on the scale.
	Adjust the Feed Pan and Gate The angle of the Feed Pan, The height of the Feed Pan, and the height of the Gate will determine how freely the material flows into the container. Free flowing materials in general need more restriction (less angle of the Feed Pan, higher Feed Pan height, and lower Gate) and less free flowing material usually need less restriction (higher angle Feed Pan, lower Feed Pan height, and higher Gate) you will have to experiment with these 3 settings. Generally, if the motor is running at a very high speed and it takes a long time to fill the container, the restriction must be reduced (higher angle Feed Pan, lower Feed Pan height, and higher Gate). If the container overfills the restriction must be increased (lower angle Feed Pan, higher Feed Pan height and lower Gate).
	Put some material in the Hopper Put your material in the Hopper. It should flow down into the Feed Pan. You may have to push some material down into the Feed Pan to get things started.
	Press the Foot Switch Press the Foot Switch to start the fill cycle. The Controller will use the supplied parameters to fill the container. When the container has been filled the display will indicate the weight of the material in the container.
	Fine Tuning In User mode, the operator controls all of the parameters of the N-3. The Bulk Cutoff weight, Bulk Speed, Dribble Cutoff weight, and Dribble speed can be adjusted as described above. In addition the Feed Pan height, Feed Pan Angle, and Gate height can be adjusted. Generally the Feed Pan should contain one layer of material when the container is filling. For example, if you are filling a container with beans, you should observe a continuous flow of beans in the Feed Pan, one bean deep that flows smoothly and evenly. If there are gaps or open spots where you can see the bottom of the Feed Pan, you should open up the gate and/or make the angle of the Feed Pan steeper.
	Save the Job You should now save the job so that the next time you turn the machine on, all the current operating parameters are saved. The N-3 does not automatically save jobs. You must save the job. To do this simply press “Home 24” This will save all of the current parameters so that the next time you load this job from the controllers memory, it will operate just as it did the last time you saved the job.

7. Calibrating your N-3

Tare the Scale
With nothing on the scale, press the “Home 1” to “tare” or zero out the scale. After doing this, the display should read “0.000”.

Put a known weight on the Scale
Place a known weight on the scale and see if it is accurate. If it is not, you must “calibrate the scale”. To calibrate the scale, first tare the scale (see above), then put an object of known weight on the scale. Press “Home 31” to get to the calibrate screen. You will be prompted to enter the weight of the object you put on the scale. Enter the weight of the object and press “Enter”. You will be returned to the main screen where you should see the correct weight for the object on the scale.

Options: Extra Funnels @ $200.00

1. What is the N-4?

The N-4 is used to fill containers with an operator specified amount (weight) of material from a bulk hopper. It can be used in an “automatic” mode where the N-4 controller tries to determine the operating parameters or in a “manual or “user” mode where the operator supplies the operating parameters.
In the “automatic mode the operator simply tells the N-4 how much material he/she would like in the container, puts a container under the funnel, and presses the footswitch. The N-4 will automatically “learn” how to fill the container optimizing for accuracy and speed.
The N-4 can also be used in a “User” mode where the operator can manually enter all of the machine parameters. This is usually used for difficult or unusual materials.

2. Unpacking and assembling your new N-4

You must do a small amount of setup when unpacking and assembling you N-4 for the first time.

	Remove packing material
	Install the 4 casters on the bottom of the machine.
	Remove the travel lock. This is a C-clamp on the left side of the discharge funnel.
	Reposition the controller box. Unbolt the controller from it’s traveling position.Using the same nut and bolt mount it on the right front vertical part of the chassis using the _” hole . The controller should be mounted to the outside of the chassis.
	Attach compressed air supply. Adjust N-4 regulator to 20 lbs. psi..
	Plug in the controller.
	Plug the power cord into a 110V outlet

3. Getting to know the N-4

You are now ready to get acquainted with your N-4.Locate the following items on your N-4:

	Bulk Hopper This large stainless steel hopper is where you will put your bulk material.
	Bulk Hopper Gate This is a small gate located on the Bulk Hopper that controls how fast the material should flow from the Bulk Hopper onto the Feed Pan.
	Feed Pan/Vibrator assembly The bulk material flows down from the Bulk Hopper onto the Feed Pan. The Feed Pan is attached to a vibrator.
	Optional Dribble Gate The N-4 may or may not come with a gate. It is used during the operating cycle to restrict the flow of material during the dribble cycle.
	Scale/Accumulation Hopper This is where the material accumulates and is weighed during a fill cycle. Once this is filled to the desired weight, it is dropped into the container by the controller using the drop gate.
	Controller The controller is the “brain” of the N-4. It contains a small computer that controls the speed of the vibrator motor and interfaces with the operator through the footswitch, front panel switches and front panel LCD display.
	Foot Switch The footswitch will normally sit on the floor. The footswitch is used by the operator to start and stop the N-4. If it is pressed before the Accumulation Hopper is filled, the N-4 will pause. Pressing the Foot Switch again will resume the fill cycle.

4. Getting to know the N-4 Controller

You are now ready to get to know your N-4 controller. Locate the following items on the controller

	Power Switch The power switch is located on the bottom of the Controller.
	LCD display The LCD display is a 4 line by 16 character display that is used by the controller to communicate to the user.
	Keypad The Keypad has 16 keys and is used by the operator to communicate with the controller. The keys “0” thru “9” , “.” And “Enter” keys are used to make menu selections and to enter values. The “C/CE” key is used to clear an erroneously entered value while entering a new parameter. The up and down arrow keys are used for scrolling through menus or data. The “Home” key takes you back to the main menu from any screen. This last key keeps you from getting lost in the menus. It also allows easier communications for our telephone technical support. For example, no matter what screen you are in, pressing “Home 1” will tare the scale. Pressing “Home 24” will save the current job.
	Fuse The fuse is located in the power entry block. The power cord must be removed to replace the fuse. If there is no display when the power switch is turned on, unscrew the Fuse and visually inspect it to see if it is blown. Replace it with a fuse of the correct value (4 amps).

5. Operating your N-4 for the very first time (in Automatic Mode)

You are now ready to turn your N-4 on for the first time. We will first setup a new job filling 0.50 lb containers in “automatic” mode. This mode lets the controller adjust itself for optimum performance.

	Turn on the Controller Every time the controller is turned on using the power switch, the LCD screen displays a short “splash” screen that indicates the model number and revision number. You should see a line like “N4 Rev 2.11”. In this example, the first part of the message “N4” would tell you that the controller is setup for the Model N-4 machine. If this first part shows “N3”, call for instructions on changing it to “N4”. The “Rev 2.11” part of the message is indicating the software revision in the controller (2.11 in this example). Write this down so that if you need to call a question, they will know what machine you have. Once the “splash” screen has past, the next screen will show a short menu, a “Job number”, an indication of whether the current job is “automatic” or “manual”, and the weight indicated by the scale. The “Job number” is the job currently being used. The controller can store several jobs that the operator has setup and saved in its internal memory and the operator can recall those jobs later on. A Job is a set of parameters that tell the controller how to fill a particular container with a particular amount of material. All jobs are saved when the power is removed. There are 2 characters after the job number. They will either be “Au” indicating that the currently loaded job is an “automatic” mode job or “Us” indicating the current job is a “User” mode job. An automatic job means the controller will constantly adjust the job parameters during operation and a user job will use fixed operator supplied parameters and will make no adjustments. The weight of the material currently in the Scale/Accumulation Hopper will be shown on the bottom right side of the LCD display. If you connected the scale you should be able to make this weight change by pressing on the Scale/Accumulation Hopper.
	Load a Job We will load job number 1 for this example. Load the current job number 1 from the controller’s memory by pressing “Home 23” to get to the load job screen. You will be asked to enter the job number you want to load. Press “1” and then “Enter” to load the parameters currently saved in job#1. After hitting “Enter” you will be returned to the main screen. Notice that the bottom line of the display starts with “Job: 1”. This is telling you that job number 1 is being used.
	Setup Operating Modes Now we need to tell the controller to use “automatic mode” for this job. This allows the controller to try and optimize the running parameters while it is running. Press “Home 22” to get to the “Edit Modes” menu. The first item in this menu should be “Mode”. By pressing the “1” key you can toggle the mode from “Auto” to “User”. Toggle the mode to indicate “Auto” While you are in this menu, notice the other menu items. Press the “2” key o toggle the “AutoDump” setting to “Off”. Use the “3” key to toggle the “AutoTare” to “Off”. Once you have made the above changed to the Modes, press Home to go back to the home screen.
	Set Target Weight Since we are going to run in “Automatic” mode for this example, the only parameter we need to adjust is the target weight. Press “Home 215” to get to the target weight entry screen. This will prompt you for a target weight. Enter “0.5” followed by the “Enter” key. You will now be returned to the run parameter screen which shows all of the operating parameters. Since we will be running in “Automatic” mode you will not have to change any of these other items. You can uses the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Turn On “Learn” Mode The last thing we need to do is to tell the controller to do a “Learn” cycle. The learn cycle is done the first time a new job is run in automatic mode so the controller can get a “feel” for how the material flows. The controller in actually learning on every cycle if it is running in automatic mode but for the very first cycle we will tell it to very carefully learn the characteristics of the material and how it flows. To tell the controller to “Learn” on the first cycle press “Home 3” to go to the “Utility” screen and then press “3” to toggle the learn mode from “Off” to “On”. Press the “Home” key to return to the opening screen.
	Tare the Scale With nothing on the Scale, press “Home 1”. The display should read “0.000”. This removes any offset in the scale so that anything you now put on the scale will be weighed from a value of zero.
	Check Calibration of the Scale Place a known weight on the scale and see if it is accurate. If it is not, you must “calibrate the scale”. To calibrate the scale, first tare the scale (see above), then put an object of known weight on the scale. Press “Home 31” to get to the calibrate screen. You will be prompted to enter the weight of the object you put on the scale. Enter the weight of the object and press “Enter”. You will be returned to the main screen where you should see the correct weight for the object on the scale.
	Adjust the Bulk Hopper Gate Set the height of the Bulk Hopper Gate to something that will restrict the material flowing from the Bulk Hopper to the Feed Pan so that it will flow smoothly. You may have to adjust this later on.
	Put some material in the Hopper Put your material in the Hopper. It should flow down into the Feed Pan/Vibrator. You may have to push some material down into the Feed Pan to get things started.
	Press the Foot Switch Press the Foot Switch to start the fill cycle. The “Drop Gate” will open and close and the vibrator will start. If you have the optional Feed Pan Gate, it will open. The Controller will very slowly increase the power to the vibrator as it “learns” or tries to judge how to best fill this container with the given material. During the first cycle the Controller operates very slowly while it is trying to figure things out. When the container has been filled the display will indicate the weight of the material in the Accumulation Hopper. You will notice that after the “Learn Cycle” each subsequent container will fill a bit more quickly. This is because the controller is continuously trying to optimize the fill accuracy and speed.
	Fine Tuning If you find the vibrator is running very fast and/or it takes a long time for the container to fill, you may have the Bulk Hopper Gate too restrictive for the material in the Bulk Hopper. On the other hand, if the container fills quickly but is not very accurate, the Bulk Hopper Gate may not be restrictive enough and should be lowered. Generally the Feed Pan should contain one layer of material when the container is filling. For example, if you are filling a container with beans, you should observe a continuous flow of beans in the Feed Pan, one bean deep that flows smoothly and evenly. If there are gaps or open spots where you can see the bottom of the Feed Pan, you should open up the Bulk Hopper Gate.
	Re-entering the Learn Cycle If you make a major adjustment to the Bulk Hopper Gate, you should force the N-4 Controller to start the “Learn Cycle” from the beginning. To do this, simply press “Home 33” to toggle the learn cycle on. You can usually make small adjustments to the Bulk Hopper Gate without re-entering the “Learn Cycle”.
	Save the Job After operating several cycle, you should notice that the N-4 has figured out how to fill your containers quickly and accurately. You should now save the job so that the next time you turn the machine on, all the current operating parameters are saved. The N-4 does not automatically save jobs. You must save the job. To do this simply press “Home 24” This will save all of the current parameters so that the next time you load this job from the controllers memory, it will operate just as it did the last time you saved the job.

6. Operating your N-4 in the User Mode

The Fill Process
The N-4 Controller in User mode fills a container as follows. It fills the major portion of the container at a high speed (Bulk Speed) until it reaches a certain weight (Bulk Cutoff). It then fills the remainder of the container at a slower speed (Dribble Speed) until it reaches a terminal weight (Dribble Cutoff). The terminal weight is usually a bit less than the final weight because a small amount of material falls into the container after the vibrator motor turns off.
For example, if the operator was filling bags with 5 pounds of rice, he/she might program the N-4 Controller to fill the first 4.75 pounds at a high vibrator motor speed. The Bulk Cutoff would be 4.75 pounds and the Bulk Speed might be 50% of full motor speed. The remaining pound of material might then get filled at a lower vibrator motor speed. The operator might program a Dribble Speed of 20% and a Dribble Cutoff of 4.98 pounds guessing that the final 0.02 pounds will fall into the container after the controller turns off the vibrator motor.

The following is a step-by-step description of operating the N-4 in User Mode:

	Turn on the Controller Every time the controller is turned on using the power switch, the LCD screen displays a short “splash” screen that indicates the model number and revision number. You should see a line like “N4 Rev 2.11”. In this example, the first part of the message “N4” would tell you that the controller is setup for the Model N-4 machine. If this first part shows “N3”, call NPS for instructions on changing it to “N4”. The “Rev 2.11” part of the message is indicating the software revision in the controller (2.11 in this example). Write this down so that if you need to call NPS with a question, they will know what machine you have. Once the “splash” screen has past, the next screen will show a short menu, a “Job number”, an indication of whether the current job is “automatic” or “manual”, and the weight indicated by the scale. The “Job number” is the job currently being used. The controller can store several jobs that the operator has setup and saved in its internal memory and the operator can recall those jobs later on. A Job is a set of parameters that tell the controller how to fill a particular container with a particular amount of material. All jobs are saved when the power is removed. There are 2 characters after the job number. They will either be “Au” indicating that the currently loaded job is an “automatic” mode job or “Us” indicating the current job is a “User” mode job. An automatic job means the controller will constantly adjust the job parameters during operation and a user job will use fixed operator supplied parameters and will make no adjustments. The weight of the material currently in the Scale/Accumulation Hopper will be shown on the bottom right side of the LCD display. If you connected the scale you should be able to make this weight change by pressing on the Scale/Accumulation Hopper.
	Load a Job We will load job number 2 for this example. Load the current job number 2 from the controller’s memory by pressing “Home 23” to get to the load job screen. You will be asked to enter the job number you want to load. Press “2” and then “Enter” to load the parameters currently saved in job#2. After hitting “Enter” you will be returned to the main screen. Notice that the bottom line of the display starts with “Job: 2”. This is telling you that job number 2 is being used.
	Setup Operating Modes Now we need to tell the controller to use “user” mode for this job. This forces the controller to use operator supplied parameters while it is running. Press “Home 22” to get to the “Edit Modes” menu. The first item in this menu should be “Mode”. By pressing the “1” key you can toggle the mode from “Auto” to “User”. Toggle the mode to indicate “User” While you are in this menu, notice the other menu items. Press the “2” key o toggle the “AutoDump” setting to “Off”. Use the “3” key to toggle the “AutoTare” to “Off”. Once you have made the above changed to the Modes, press Home to go back to the home screen.
	Set the Bulk Cutoff Weight If we are running the job described above we will want to enter the bulk cutoff weight of 4.75 lbs. Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list. Press the “1” key to edit the bulk cutoff weight. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired bulk cutoff weight and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Bulk Speed Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. Press the “2” key to edit the bulk speed. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired bulk speed and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Dribble Cutoff Weight Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. Press the “3” key to edit the dribble cutoff weight. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired dribble cutoff weight and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Dribble Speed Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. Press the “4” key to edit the dribble speed. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired dribble speed and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Target Weight Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. You can use the up and down arrow keys to view all the parameters. Press the “5” key to edit the target weight. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired target weight and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Drop Gate Open Time The drop gate open time is the time that the controller leaves the gate open. This and the drop gate close time can be adjusted to optimize cycle time. Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. You can use the up and down arrow keys to view all the parameters. Press the “8” key to edit the drop gate open time. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired open time and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Set the Drop Gate Close Time Press “Home 21” to get to the parameter edit list if you are not already in it. You can use the up and down arrow keys to view all the parameters. Press the “9” key to edit the drop gate close time. If while entering the parameter you make a mistake, you can press the C/CE key to clear your entry and reenter the parameter. Enter the desired close time and press enter when you are done. You will be returned to the parameter edit list. You can use the arrow keys to view all of these parameters. Use the “Home” key to return to the main screen.
	Tare the Scale With nothing on the Scale, press”Home 1”. The display should read “0.000”. This removes any offset in the scale so that anything you now put on the scale will be weighed from a value of zero.
	Check Calibration of the Scale Place a known weight on the scale and see if it is accurate. If it is not, you must “calibrate the scale”. To calibrate the scale, first tare the scale (see above), then put an object of known weight on the scale. Press “Home 31” to get to the calibrate screen. You will be prompted to enter the weight of the object you put on the scale. Enter the weight of the object and press “Enter”. You will be returned to the main screen where you should see the correct weight for the object on the scale.
	Adjust the Bulk Hopper Gate Set the height of the Bulk Hopper Gate to something that will restrict the material flowing from the Bulk Hopper to the Feed Pan so that it will flow smoothly. You may have to adjust this later on.
	Put some material in the Hopper Put your material in the Hopper. It should flow down into the Feed Pan/Vibrator. You may have to push some material down into the Feed Pan to get things started.
	Press the Foot Switch Press the Foot Switch to start the fill cycle. The “Drop Gate” will open and close and the vibrator will start. If you have the optional Feed Pan Gate, it will open. The Controller will use the supplied parameters to fill the accumulate hopper. When the accumulator has been filled the display will indicate the weight of the material in the Accumulation Hopper.
	Fine Tuning If you find the vibrator is running very fast and/or it takes a long time for the accumulator to fill, you may have the Bulk Hopper Gate too restrictive for the material in the Bulk Hopper. On the other hand, if the container fills quickly but is not very accurate, the Bulk Hopper Gate may not be restrictive enough and should be lowered. Generally the Feed Pan should contain one layer of material when the container is filling. For example, if you are filling a container with beans, you should observe a continuous flow of beans in the Feed Pan, one bean deep that flows smoothly and evenly. If there are gaps or open spots where you can see the bottom of the Feed Pan, you should open up the Bulk Hopper Gate.
	Save the Job You should now save the job so that the next time you turn the machine on, all the current operating parameters are saved. The N-4 does not automatically save jobs. You must save the job. To do this simply press “Home 24” This will save all of the current parameters so that the next time you load this job from the controllers memory, it will operate just as it did the last time you saved the job.

7. Calibrating your N-4

Tare the Scale
With nothing on the scale, press the “Home 1” to “tare” or zero out the scale. After doing this, the display should read “0.000”.