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What You'll Achieve
After completing this guide, your slave web follows the master web's side-to-side position, keeping the two layers aligned.
Estimated time: ~30–60 minutes
What You Need
Master-Slave Guiding — SCU5
Prerequisites
Install the Web Guide
Install the Roll-2-Roll® Web Guide in two stages: first mount and align the web-guide frame on your machine, then mount the sensor for your guiding mode.
Install and Align the Web Guide Frame
- Bolt the frame to the machine through its base-plate holes.
- Mount it so the web travels in the direction of the arrows on the frame — the guide corrects in one direction only, so a backwards frame fights the web instead of steering it.
- Level the frame: set its rollers parallel to the machine idlers and square to web travel, with no tilt to either side. Check it with a machine square, a tram rod, or by measuring from each entry and exit roller to the web-guide roller — whichever you have.
Set the Correction Geometry
Set the geometry for the web guide type you received (your Roll-2-Roll application engineer chose it at purchase).
Displacement guide
- Wrap the web 90 degrees at the entry and exit rollers.
- Make the entry and exit spans each about one-half to one web width (two to three web widths for metal webs).
- Correction happens in the exit span.
Steering guide
- Make the entry span about three to five web widths (ten to twenty for metal webs).
- Wrap the guide roller 45 to 135 degrees.
- Keep the exit span perpendicular to the direction of roller motion.
- Correction happens in the entry span.
Mount the Motor Driver Box
- Mount the MC QD motor-driver box on the machine, close to the web guide and actuator. It has its own enclosure, so it does not need to sit inside another cabinet.
- Keep the box within about 10 m of the actuator — that is the reach of the motor-communication cable (SKU 21223) carrying the RS485 link and 24 V to the driver.
Choose the Sensor Location and Mount the Sensor
- Mount the sensor in the exit span, just after the guide roller — as close to the roller as your machine allows. The sensor must see the corrected web; mounted anywhere else, guiding becomes unstable.
- Clamp the sensor bracket to your extrusion rail in the exit span, but don't fully tighten it yet.
- Set the working distance from the sensor face to the web to 15-25 mm (0.6-1.0 in); aim for 25 mm.
- Keep everything at least 150 mm (6 in) behind the web clear in the sensor's view — the camera-style sensor can otherwise pick up background objects.
- Guiding a shiny, metallic, or clear web? Tilt the sensor a few degrees toward the web so its angled light returns to the lens, then re-check the working distance.
- Tighten the bracket.
- If the web plane visibly lifts or drops in the exit span when the guide corrects hard (you'll confirm this during commissioning), add a backup roller with minimal wrap just before the sensor to steady the web — then keep the sensor close. Don't move the sensor farther downstream to escape the problem; distance costs you guiding response.
Pre-Power Mechanical Checks
- Do these with the power off, before commissioning. Don't move the web guide by hand at any point.
- Confirm the web travels in the direction of the arrows on the guide.
- Confirm the guide rollers sit parallel in their neutral position.
- Confirm the guide is level, with no tilt.
- Confirm the wrap angle and the entry and exit span lengths match your guide geometry.
- Install the servo-center inductive proximity sensor (SKU 7-140004) per the Servo Center installation document — the controller uses it to find the actuator's home position during commissioning.
Reference Documents
Install the Sensor
Install the Sensors — Master-Slave Guiding
- Master-slave guiding uses two ODC sensors on two separate web paths: a master sensor on the master (reference) web and a slave sensor on the web this guide steers.
- Line up the master and slave sensors at the same point across the machine, relative to the machine centerline.
- Make the web-path length from the master sensor to the lamination point equal to the path length from the slave sensor to the lamination point — this timing has to match.
- Mount the slave sensor in the exit span after its guide roller, and mount both sensors the same way round.
Wire the System
Configure & Verify
Power up the controller and commission the guide, one checked step at a time.
Master-Slave Guiding — Power Up and Commission
Commission master-slave guiding — set up the slave guide first, then bring in the master so the slave web follows it.
- Power on the controller. If it wakes in Automatic, switch to Manual — every step below runs from Manual.
- Set both sensors to edge sensing. The master sensor reads the master (reference) web; the slave sensor reads the web this guide steers.
- Disable the master sensor for now — you'll commission the slave guide on its own first.
- Set the slave sensor's orientation to Left or Right to match its edge, on the Power User → Sensor screen, and check it on the Web Position Indicator — a dark region on the matching side. If it reads all dark or all light, fix the working distance or orientation before continuing.
- Check the jog direction. Tap Jog Left, then Jog Right, and watch the guide. It should move the way each button says. If it moves the opposite way, reverse Motor Polarity under Power User → Actuator → Motor Polarity, then jog again to confirm.
- Servo-center the actuator. Tap Servo Center and let the guide travel to its home position (half its stroke each way). If it heads away from home, reverse Servo Center Polarity under Power User → Actuator → Servo Center Polarity, then servo-center again.
- Set the guide point for the slave web, then switch to Automatic and confirm the slave web corrects the right way. If it steers away from the guide point, reverse Error Polarity under Power User → Controller. Get steady slave guiding before adding the master.
- Enable the master sensor and set its orientation to match its edge the same way (on the Power User → Sensor screen), then check it on the Web Position Indicator. Turn on the master/slave function.
- Confirm which sensor is master and which is slave — the master supplies the guide-point offset, the slave is the edge the actuator follows.
- Check the master/slave polarity. Shift the master web off its sensor center and watch the slave web move the same way. If the slave moves the opposite way, flip the master/slave polarity, then re-check.
- Prove the safety hold. Lock on Lost Edge watches the slave web — pull the slave web out of its sensor's view and confirm the guide holds its last position. When the slave web tracks the master and the hold works, your master-slave guide is commissioned.
PLC Integration
Web guiding controllers support remote command via two routes: Industrial Ethernet PLC remote control, and the DIO option (discrete dry-contact inputs). Both allow a PLC or supervisory system to command guide mode and position without manual touchscreen interaction.
- Route 1 — PLC remote control (C(x) models): send auto mode on/off, jog, servo center, and guide-point commands over Industrial Ethernet (EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, EtherCAT)
- Route 2 — DIO option: discrete dry-contact 24 V NPN inputs for hard-wired remote on/off and mode switching — no Industrial Ethernet required; wired directly from PLC digital outputs or relay contacts
- Both routes can coexist — Ethernet for data and fine control, DIO for hard-wired safety/interlock inputs
- Lock on Lost Edge: when the web edge exits the sensor field of view during edge guiding, actuator motion is inhibited — prevents runaway
- Loss of Contrast Inhibit: for line/contrast guiding, actuator motion is inhibited if contrast is lost until the target feature is re-acquired
📄 The register map, EDS file (EtherNet/IP), and Add-on Instruction (AOI) for Studio 5000 are in the Your Products section above — grouped on the product card with everything else you need to download.
Go Further
Related Quick Start Guides
- Unwind/Rewind Web Guiding — High-thrust web guiding for shifting roll stands
- Retrofit an Existing Web Guide — Upgrade a legacy or competitor web guide system with Roll-2-Roll sensors and controllers
- Web Width Measurement — Measure web width alongside or independently of guiding
- Position Measurement — Measure edge, centerline, or contrast/line position
- Splice Detection — Add splice detection to your web processing line
Learn More
- Unwind and Rewind Guides — Design and Installation Considerations
- How to Size an Actuator for Unwind/Rewind Web Guides
Need Help?
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