# Web edge sensor for challenging web materials > We are often asked by our customers to let them know if we can sense or edge guide a certain material. This is how this usually goes: We have a difficult to sense material. It is very porous, non-homogeneous, extremely translucent... Do you think your web edge sensor can see the material and guid... **Last updated:** 2021-04-20 **Source:** https://live-roll2roll.pantheonsite.io/blog/web-edge-sensor-challenging-web-materials --- We are often asked by our customers to let them know if we can sense or edge guide a certain material. This is how this usually goes: > We have a difficult to sense material. It is very porous, non-homogeneous, extremely translucent... Do you think your web edge sensor can see the material and guide the material? And our answer typically is, yes we can. ### Seeing is Believing Even though we believe we could see any material, we typically ask our customers to send a sample for testing. Seeing is believing, so we do some tests and send a video or a report to the customer. This gives them a sense of comfort and trust in our ability. We received one such sample from a customer oversees. The material was a nonwoven melt blown material. I wanted to share this because this is one of those challenging materials that are impossible to detect with typical web edge sensor.  Here are some pictures send by the customer: ![Customer image of the material for web edge sensing](https://r2r.tech/sites/default/files/inline-images/web.jpeg)![Customer image of the material for web edge sensing](https://r2r.tech/sites/default/files/inline-images/web2.jpeg) And here are the pictures from when we received the samples: ![Material that we received for testing our web edge sensor](https://r2r.tech/sites/default/files/inline-images/WebMaterial1.jpg)![Material that we received for testing our web edge sensor](https://r2r.tech/sites/default/files/inline-images/WebMaterial2.jpg) Clearly the web is extremely porous with a lot of gaps. Any blocking/unblocking sensing principle would not be a good option. Let's see how our sensor performs. ### Roll-2-Roll® Sensor Performance Well we will let the video speak for itself.   ### What do you think? Seeing is believing right! Our sensors are essentially a [line scan camera](https://r2r.tech/blog/line-scan-camera-vs-roll-2-roll-sensor) so they can overcome the limitations of conventional [web edge sensors](https://r2r.tech/blog/roll-2-rollr-sensor-just-sensor). We can indeed see any material, even without any setup or calibration. This video was taken with our standard factory default parameters. If you have some challenging materials that you are having trouble sensing, please give us a shout and we will help you guide it. ### Final Note I want to leave you with a final note. Not everyone needs to guide such a material. Most often the customer get away without guiding the web and trimming off the edges to create a straight edge. But the problem with that is, every downstream process needs to trim certain amount and this can add up. If your machine accuracy, without guiding, is ± 0.25 in then you need to trim about 0.5 in of trim. If you can live with it then you don't need to guide the web. If not you do need guiding. Our guess is, more and more customers are looking for ways to reduce waste. If you are one of those customer please call us and we would be glad to help. ## Related Products - Web Position Sensor - WPS 48 - WPS 221 - WPS 112 - WPS 440 - WPS 16 - WPS 900 **Tags:** Web Position Sensor, WPS 48, WPS 221, WPS 112, WPS 440, WPS 16, WPS 900 --- ## About Roll-2-Roll Technologies Roll-2-Roll Technologies designs and manufactures patented fiber-optic web position sensors and advanced web guiding controllers — the precision measurement and control core of modern roll-to-roll manufacturing. Spun out of Oklahoma State University's Web Handling Research Center and trusted by Fortune 500 medical, battery, and nonwovens manufacturers, our patented sensors work without recalibration at ±0.1mm accuracy up to 760 mpm — typical customer outcomes are 50%+ less downtime and payback under six months. Headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma, our team of PhDs, controls engineers, and industry veterans extends the sensor + controller core into complete web guide systems including stepper-motor-based linear actuators (RLA, BLA, LHS). - Website: https://r2r.tech - Phone: +1 (888) 290-3215 - Email: sales@r2r.tech