Fount Cup Detection
Plan for Detection of Cup
The purpose of this block is to have a system in place so that the fount knows whether or not the cup is at its home fount or not. The team felt that a simple and very reliable way to do this would be to simply have 1/4 inch copper pads placed on top of the fount and the bottom of the cup, so that when they are touching, a circuit is created. When the cup is removed, the circuit would be broken, which would alert the fount that the cup had been removed.
Backup Plan
The backup to the copper pad solution would be to replace the fount’s copper pads with a simple push button. This would eliminate the need for the copper pads on the cup altogether, since the weight of the cup would ideally keep the button pushed down. The button we had in mind as a backup would be the Judco 519PB-ND (shown right), which would be small enough for our application. The downside to this is the cup might not be completely flat on the bottom, which would make it difficult for the cup to hold down the button continuously.