Technical guides for machine vision inspection projects
Engineering guides for quality managers and automation engineers who are specifying a camera inspection station for a South African production line.
Before you specify a vision inspection system, four questions decide most of the outcome: can the defect be seen on your own samples, how will the station exchange signals with your PLC and reject, does the check suit rule-based tools or deep learning, and what drives the cost. These guides answer each one, in the order most projects meet them. They are free to read and need no sign-up.
Start with the question you have now
Each guide explains how the work is done, where it stops and what you need to prepare. None of them states fixed accuracies, speeds or prices: those depend on your product and line, and are confirmed on your samples.
How to prepare samples for a feasibility test
Which good and defective samples to send, how to label borderline cases, what photos and line data help, and what the feasibility conclusion contains. Includes a printable checklist.
Connecting a vision system to your PLC and reject
Trigger, result handover over digital I/O or an industrial network, tracking the failed product to the reject, reject confirmation and fault handling. Includes a timing diagram and interface checklist.
Rule-based inspection or deep learning: how to choose
Where each approach fits, what samples each needs, how each is validated and maintained, and a decision table. Both can run in one VisionMaster solution.
Reducing false rejects without missing defects
Why a station rejects good products, a symptom-to-cause table, and how to set, verify and maintain limits as lighting, optics and materials drift.
Machine vision lighting: which light shows which defect
Backlight, dome, dark-field, coaxial, bar and line lights, with a decision table for shiny, clear, curved and textured parts.
Payback (ROI) calculator
Estimate payback and simple ROI from your own figures, with a conservative case and every step of the working shown.
Project cases
Anonymised project records: the brief, the conditions, the solution, and how acceptance was defined and tested.
Cost & budget guide
What determines the cost of an inspection station: cameras and views, line speed, optics, environment and the reject mechanism, and what a quotation should include.
Which guide answers which question
Find the question closest to yours. Each link opens a page that answers it in full, including where the method stops.
| Your question | Guide or tool | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Can a camera see my defect, and which samples should I send? | Preparing samples | Which good, defective and borderline samples to send, how to label them, and what the written feasibility conclusion contains. Printable checklist. |
| How will the station talk to my PLC and reject the right product? | PLC & reject integration | Trigger, result handover, tracking to the reject, reject confirmation and fault behaviour, with a timing diagram and interface checklist. |
| Should the check use fixed rules or deep learning? | Rule-based vs deep learning | Where each approach fits, what samples each needs, how each is validated and maintained, and a decision table. |
| Why is my station rejecting good products? | Reducing false rejects | A symptom-to-cause table, and how to set, prove and maintain limits without letting more defects through. |
| Which light will make the defect show up? | Machine vision lighting | Backlight, dome, dark-field, coaxial, bar and line lights, with a decision table for shiny, clear, curved and textured parts. |
| What will a station cost, and what should a quotation include? | Cost & budget guide | The drivers behind the price and what a quotation should state. No fixed prices: a quotation follows the sample test. |
| Will the station pay for itself? | Payback (ROI) calculator | A payback and simple ROI estimate from your own figures, with every step shown. A scenario, not a promise of savings. |
| What happens between the first enquiry and handover? | How we deliver a project | Each stage from requirement to sample test, factory and site acceptance, and training, and the written record that closes it. |
| Has this approach worked on a real line? | Project cases | Anonymised project records: the brief, the conditions, the solution and how acceptance was tested. |
A sensible order for a new project
Most inspection projects move through the same decisions. Reading the guides in this order matches the way a project is delivered.
Prove the defect is visible
Everything starts with your samples. If lighting and optics cannot make a fault stand out from the good product, no software will catch it reliably. The sample guide explains what to send and how to label it.
Plan the line interface
A correct decision is only useful if the right product is rejected and the reject is confirmed. The integration guide covers trigger, tracking, confirmation and fault behaviour.
Choose the inspection method
Measurable, well-defined faults usually suit rule-based tools; faults with variable appearance may need deep learning. The comparison guide sets out the trade-offs, including samples and retraining.
Understand the budget
Cost follows from the number of views, line speed, optics, environment and reject mechanism. The cost guide explains the drivers and what a quotation should state.
Questions about these guides
Are the guides free, and do I need to sign up?
Why don’t the guides give accuracies, speeds or prices?
I have a product and a fault but no specification. Where do I start?
Who writes the guides, and are they kept up to date?
Have a specific product and fault in mind?
Describe the product, the faults you need to catch and your line. We will tell you which samples to send and what a sample test would involve.