The Benefits of a Fanuc Plasma Cutter over a Flat Bed Cutter

Cut­ting appli­ca­tions are becom­ing auto­mat­ed reg­u­lar­ly these days. While some com­pa­nies choose a flatbed cut­ter for their cut­ting appli­ca­tions, oth­ers are start­ing to see the ben­e­fits of using six-axis robots for this process. Plas­ma cut­ting, which is a cut­ting process that cuts through met­al using a jet of hot plas­ma, is one of the areas where a six-axis robot, like those made by Fanuc Robot­ics, comes in handy and has many ben­e­fits over a flatbed cut­ting machine.

One of the biggest ben­e­fits that a Fanuc plas­ma cut­ting robot has over a flatbed cut­ting machine is its flex­i­bil­i­ty. A Fanuc plas­ma cut­ting robot­ic sys­tem has six degrees of free­dom because of its six axes, while a flatbed cut­ter is fixed func­tion­al­ly and can­not move its plas­ma torch from one point to anoth­er in a des­ig­nat­ed area. The Fanuc robot­ic plas­ma cut­ter also can per­form bevel­ing appli­ca­tions, some­thing that requires spe­cial equip­ment with a flatbed unit. 

When it comes to pre­ci­sion, the flatbed cut­ter is no match for a Fanuc robot­ic plas­ma cut­ting sys­tem. Fanuc robots can load and unload parts, ​“see” parts through vision recog­ni­tion soft­ware, and they even have point-to-point teach­ing func­tions, which allow pro­gram­mers to fine-tune and adjust the cut­ting path as nec­es­sary, accord­ing to Fanuc. These robots also have con­trol over the plas­ma they use, with the abil­i­ty to con­trol the start, loca­tion, and height of the plas­ma com­ing out of the torch. A flatbed cut­ting machine needs spe­cial hard­ware to have these abilities. 

Between all of these advan­tages, along with the abil­i­ty to per­form high­er through­put with mul­ti­ple tables and no changeover wait, the Fanuc plas­ma cut­ter is the obvi­ous win­ner over flatbed cut­ting machin­ery when it comes to sav­ing time, equip­ment, and money. 

Are you inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about a Fanuc plas­ma cut­ting robot and the ben­e­fits it can bring to your shop? If so, you should call Robots​.com, a cer­ti­fied inte­gra­tor for sev­er­al dif­fer­ent robot­ics com­pa­nies, includ­ing Fanuc Robot­ics. Our sales team, tech­ni­cians, and engi­neers will work with you to help you design the best plas­ma cut­ting sys­tem for your facility. 

For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact Robots​.com today online or at 877−762−6881.