Recently a customer asked Gosiger to help reduce the cost of machining complex pump shafts it produces for military and other applications. The CNC machine shop was using 5 machine tools to perform 14 operations on the workpiece, including turning, drilling, milling and hobbing. This required multiple setups, programming, machining cycles, and movement of the part between the 5 machines.
It’s no secret that using robots to handle large, heavy, unwieldy parts reduces production time and eliminates many worker safety issues. However even a basic loading and unloading scenario, like the one in this video, requires much more than simply placing a robot arm in front of a machine tool. Gosiger Automation specializes in thinking through the entire manufacturing process to integrate all of the components necessary to achieve optimum productivity.
This video shows how a Fanuc M-20iA six-axis industrial robot equipped with an IRVision system locates, picks up and loads parts into an Okuma Multus B-300 CNC machining center.
Many CNC machine shops have discovered that diversifying into new industries and, consequently, expanding the kinds of parts they produce is a key to growth in good times and a way to survive when the economy suffers. In many cases this means breaking out of their comfort zones and taking on more challenging work. When a company that traditionally makes fairly simple parts expands into aerospace, medical or other markets that have more complex and closer tolerance parts, they need to carefully consider what it takes to compete.
A video production from Gosiger Automation & Fanuc demonstrates a production cell that uses a Fanuc M-10iA Robot positioned at the side of a Hardinge Super Precision T-Series Turning Center, so the robot does not interfere with access to the machine tool. This is a unique configuration as the robot must reach around the machine to load and unload the workpiece.
This new router style end mill tool from Sandvik Coromant (2P230 series) as shown on an Okuma Genos M560V vertical machining center (VMC) enables the cutting of an aluminum part with one tool. It provides high feed rate cutting used for z-level roughing and, because of its versatility, allows for multiple cutting strategies, reduces the number of tool changes and allows roughing to near net shape.
In this video a FANUC M-10iA robot not only loads and unloads a part from a Hardinge Super-Precision T51 SP CNC machine, but also uses a Renishaw Equator Comparative Gauging System to inspect the finished part, all without operator intervention. The video narrator explains how the robot uses a unique software solution to finely control speed and positioning for these delicate procedures without the use of special hardware.
A new video from Gosiger Automation is now available on the Gosiger Website that briefly explains the process the company uses to help manufacturers improve productivity, reduce labor costs and become more competitive through the use of robotics-based factory automation systems.
In this brief video Gosiger Factory Automation shows how it used 3-D solids modeling to create a plan view that enabled its engineers to precisely determine the positioning and required movement of a FANUC robot used to load and unload multiple Okuma CNC machines. On-site video then shows the finished production line so the viewer sees how the FANUC robot moves along an overhead rail to flawlessly access each of the machine tool chucks.
Cincinnati manufacturer Nilpeter makes five models of flexographic presses that include a number of high-precision machined parts. One such family of parts is a series of impression cylinders that are critical components of each press. A typical Nilpeter flexographic press has eight impression rollers. Each roller must be precisely machined to final diameter tolerances of +/- 0.00005” in order to evenly apply images to the label material. Each roller in this family of parts has slightly different diameter dimensions, ranging from 2.2621” through 2.2618” Steve’s challenge was to reduce production time for these and other press components.
The manufacturing process for each roller included a series of seven steps: