Building an Effective Welding Cell: A How-To Guide
It is important to plan a welding workcell out to optimize your production line. You must consider a positioner, safety package, and other key elements in order to complete the perfect welding cell.
When incorporating a robotic welding cell to fit your manufacturing needs, there are some key requirements to consider.
While most robotic weld cells have an industrial robot arm, a positioner and a safety package, it is your unique needs that will determine how these pieces come together and how the cell layout will be designed.
The planning of your robotic welding workcell requires many phases, including a computer simulation and seeing virtual results that translate into your real-time operation, along with choosing the robot, the welding package, the size of the workcell and the safety equipment to meet your needs.
For example, if you are designing a cell to weld two separate parts, you may choose a dual-sided turntable for your positioner. This will allow your robot to weld one type of part on side A, and another on side B. Or, you may want two stationary tables, positioned on either side of the robot.
Once you know what you’d like the robot to do, it is time to call welding robot supplier, like Robots.com, to help you with your design. Robots.com designers and technicians will work with you to make sure that your workcell meets your exact specifications and will work for your welding needs.
The experts at Robots.com will look at pictures and video of your available space and production process so they can begin to help you realize your plan for automation.
After deciding which robot manufacturer to go with – for example, Fanuc, Motoman, or KUKA – and which model is best suited for your process, you will have to decide the size of the cell you need, which positioner is right for you, what safety features are required and which welding torch and dress package is appropriate for your application.
However, robotic welding is not the silver bullet for robotic welding projects. Companies need to develop infrastructure to support robotic applications, including understanding the process, understanding robotics, understanding maintenance and troubleshooting and understanding the manual process in combination with the robotics.
If you have this infrastructure in place, you complete your robotic weld cell design steps and you finish the training available through Robots.com on how to program and operate your welding cell, your shop should be successful in welding cell automation.
Ready to start designing your robotic weld cell with Robots.com? Contact us today for more information at 877-762-6881.
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