I'll have to reply deeper tomorrow evening... I'm preparing right now for tomorrow's gig. But I have to say, GaryS has something I need to look into. As much as I'd love to design my first servo solution, being able to do a 90 degree turn conveyor would be the most time and cost efficient solution. I don't know if the weight is an issue, or if there is wear and tear to the underside of the board. The boards are important, and they clean them every cycle and flip them over (with automation) to extend their life. It's hard to beat a straight-through solution, though. I'll have to discuss it with the plant manager and see if they've looked into it already.
JRW... the VFD is a G120, communicating over Profibus.
I haven't investigated all the I/O involved in the application yet, ...so far I've been busy on other projects. I did find a sensor wheel with the maintenance manager that needs an extension welded to the frame to change it's location. And there are probably a couple of little changes we could make to shave a couple of seconds off. If a 19.8 second cycle time shrinks to a 16 second time, they'd celebrate!