Patent ID: 8096041

Claim:
A method for quality control of mechanical pieces, by way of an apparatus comprising a plurality of operation stations and a piece-holder table configured to revolve in a pitched manner to convey the mechanical pieces to the operation stations, the method comprising: subdividing the operation stations into two groups, a first group comprising fast operation stations to be kept operating with operation times shorter than a predetermined time, and a second group comprising slow operation stations to be kept operating with operation times longer than the predetermined time; providing, for each slow operation station, an equally slow operation station angularly distanced therefrom by an uneven number of pitches; stopping the piece-holder table at each pitch, alternately alternating the stopping times of the table between said operation times shorter than said predetermined time and said operation times longer than said predetermined time; and deactivating all the slow operation stations during said stops of the table wherein the operation times are shorter than said predetermined time, wherein a minimum duration of time necessary to carry out operations of the slow-operation stations is calculated, the method further comprising the step of emitting an alarm signal when the longer operation time for a slow operation station is shorter than the minimum duration.