The Robotic Arm and Milling Applications

Milling is a machin­ing process that uses a spin­ning, mul­ti-tooth cut­ter to remove mate­r­i­al to form a spe­cif­ic struc­ture. These robots can per­form the exact cuts and move­ments need­ed to pro­duce the high­est qual­i­ty parts. The dif­fer­ing sizes or shapes need­ed are cre­at­ed with sim­ple robot adjust­ments, pro­gram­ming, and flex­i­ble EOAT. It is easy to see why milling is the pre­ferred method for pro­to­typ­ing and mold cre­ation, for all these rea­sons and the ones list­ed below. 

Up to this point, milling has been accom­plished with spe­cial milling and CNC machines. But milling robots offer advan­tages over these tra­di­tion­al milling methods.

Flex­i­bil­i­ty — The typ­i­cal 6‑axis artic­u­lat­ed robot offers more move­ment flex­i­bil­i­ty than a nor­mal milling machine. A robot can mill a com­plex part from mul­ti­ple angles. Instead of hav­ing to repo­si­tion and re-clamp the pro­to­type or mold again and again, the robot can remain stationary. 

Through­put — Milling with a robot­ic arm can increase over­all through­put. A robot is more con­sis­tent and accu­rate. With few­er mis­takes, and less time spent repo­si­tion­ing a robot­ic arm mills faster. 

The Right Touch - Many of the mate­ri­als used for pro­to­typ­ing and molds are soft — clay, foam, REN board. A robot­ic arm is well-suit­ed for respond­ing to and work­ing with all types of mediums. 

Afford­abil­i­ty — Milling with a robot­ic arm is extreme­ly eco­nom­i­cal. Unlike milling machines, robots can be reas­signed to per­form oth­er assign­ments in a shop — arc weld­ing, mate­r­i­al han­dling, etc. They can improve through­put, sav­ing valu­able time and increas­ing pro­duc­tion. In addi­tion, a robot­ic arm can han­dle more of the milling task with­out need­ing human intervention.

Robots​.com is ready to help you decide on the right milling robot. We pro­vide robot­ics solu­tions from Fanuc, ABB, Motoman, and KUKA. Con­tact us today online for more infor­ma­tion on any of our milling prod­ucts or give us a call at 877−762−6881.