Some modern capsule filling machines are equipped with separation pins. These pins cycle up through the vacuum shoe into the lower segment and then back down. The purpose of separation pins are to receive the capsule bodies and ease them down into the tooling in a controlled manner.
Controlling the speed of the body also aids the cap to enter more smoothly in the upper segment.
Having the separation pins set to the appropriate height is key to success. This setting is capsule size specific, and should be fine-tuned whenever making a format size change, and may even need adjusting when moving from one capsule supplier to another. At their highest position, the tips of the separation pins should not make contact with the body domes of the capsules when in their pre-lock (resting) position. Maintaining a small gap allows the capsules to “break free” from their pre-lock prior to the bodies contacting the pins and allows for slight variances in capsule pre-joined length. A tip for adjusting the pin height is to remove the lower segment at the station where you are making the adjustment. Establish a gap of about 1/16” or 1.5mm (visually).
