Rapid-Air CABINET REEL: 15, 25, 40 & 60 SERIES - Manual (Page 7)

REEL DANCER ARM FUNCTIONS
All the reels manufactured by Rapid-Air have the capability of being run by proportional
control {dancer arm} or non-contact loop control {electronic loop sensing}. We
designed the electrical circuit so that a switch, mounted on the operator control panel,
can be selected to designate internal or external control.
If the internal was selected and the reel was in the “payout” mode then the dancer arm
would provide the means of controlling the speed of the reel. The higher the dancer
arm was raised from the rest position, the faster the reel would rotate. When the loop,
between the reel and the device it was feeding, reached the correct depth the reel
would stop and wait until the arm was raised again. Reels, whether they are vertical or
horizontal have one function and that is to unwind or rewind coils of material. The
vertical reels, if they are correctly adjusted and maintained accomplish this task very
well. Rapid Air has incorporated some adjustment means, that if set properly, can
have the reel paying out continuously without starting and stopping.
There are two switches and a potentiometer that are associated with the dancer arm.
One switch, labeled height, is used to control the distance that the dancer arm has to
move before activating the reel. This function becomes valuable if the material is thick
and will not let the dancer arm down to it’s rest position. Moving the selector switch to
the next height position will give the dancer arm more control because it will have to be
raised higher to activate.
Second switch, labeled range, provides a means of adjusting the distance the dancer
arm has to travel to achieve it’s maximum speed potential. With this switch set to the
lowest number the dancer arm has to travel very little to attain the maximum speed of
the motor. If the switch is adjusted to the next highest number then the dancer arm will
have to travel farther in it’s arc to achieve the maximum speed of the motor, etc.
The two previous switches, although very important, will not completely remove the
start-stop workings conditions of the reel. The third component which is very important
is the percent speed potentiometer. This device limits the maximum speed that the
reel can run regardless of the dancer arm position. The significance of this device
becomes apparent if long feed lengths are run and the dancer arm is raised high
enough to signal the reel to run at it’s maximum speed and then drops because the
loop is now sufficient. This causes the reel to work very hard for nothing. If by
adjusting the percent speed potentiometer to 50% of the maximum speed of the reel
and the material loop is sufficient to provide enough material for the next feed length
and the reel does not stop trying to provide the material then the reel controls are set
correctly. We want the reel to run as continuously as possible, without starting or
stopping between feed