How Robots are Meeting Machining Challenges

Machin­ing encom­pass­es a num­ber of dif­fer­ent mate­r­i­al removal appli­ca­tions, such as milling, drilling, cham­fer­ing, and debur­ring, per­formed by pow­er-dri­ven machine tools. Most typ­i­cal­ly met­al but also plas­tic and wood­en objects require machin­ing to achieve the right shape. . 

Machin­ing appli­ca­tions pose a num­ber of tough chal­lenges. How­ev­er, indus­tri­al robot tech­nol­o­gy has been able to effec­tive­ly meet each one. Machin­ing robots must be extreme­ly rigid and strong to be able to machine hard­er mate­ri­als such as met­al. In addi­tion, machin­ing appli­ca­tions require high-speed per­for­mance and pre­ci­sion. Final­ly, machin­ing prod­ucts with com­plex geome­tries requires sophis­ti­cat­ed soft­ware (such as Robot­mas­ter) and effec­tive EOAT solu­tions (spin­dles, etc.).

Ben­e­fits of Robot­ic Machin­ing:
Indus­tri­al robot com­pa­nies have real­ized the need for stur­dy, reli­able machin­ing robots. The robot­ic solu­tions they con­tin­ue to cre­ate have expand­ed the mar­ket hori­zons for robots.

In addi­tion, machin­ing com­pa­nies are reap­ing in the ben­e­fits. Machin­ing robots pro­vide time sav­ings by work­ing effi­cient­ly with con­sis­tent cycle times. They also improve qual­i­ty through pre­cise, reli­able work. Final­ly, indus­tri­al machin­ing robots pro­vide appli­ca­tion ver­sa­til­i­ty and artic­u­lat­ed flex­i­bil­i­ty – allow­ing com­pa­nies to save mon­ey by using the same robots for mul­ti­ple prod­ucts and appli­ca­tions.

Mod­ern Machin­ing Robots:
Find out about a few key play­ers in the machin­ing robot arena…

Squat­ty, 6‑axis robots such as the Motoman DX1350D pro­vide answers to tough machin­ing jobs. This robot is fea­tured in Motoman’s Per­fect Edge work­cell, designed specif­i­cal­ly for trim­ming, debur­ring, etc. The robust DX1350D has a high torque wrist and 0.06mm repeatability.

The KUKA HA (high accu­ra­cy) robot series also pro­vides machin­ing solu­tions. Ide­al­ly suit­ed for trim­ming, milling, and oth­er jobs, the KUKA KR 30 HA, KR 60 HA , KR 100 HA robots con­struct­ed for speed, rigid­i­ty, and accuracy.

Soft­ware for Machin­ing:
Prod­ucts with com­pli­cat­ed geome­tries are the norm for machin­ing appli­ca­tions. In order to achieve the same (or bet­ter) results as CNC machines, indus­tri­al robots require advanced soft­ware tech­nol­o­gy. Robot­mas­ter is one of these prod­ucts. This par­tic­u­lar soft­ware pack­age is com­pat­i­ble with Motoman, KUKA, and Fanuc 6‑axis robots.

For infor­ma­tion about Robots​.com machin­ing robots and cus­tom machin­ing work­cell solu­tions, call 877−762−6881 or con­tact experts online.