The Benefits of Robotic Drossing

Indus­tri­al robots pro­vide a safe, cost-effec­tive alter­na­tive to man­u­al dross­ing. When han­dled man­u­al­ly, dross­ing can be a tedious and dan­ger­ous job. Robot­ic dross­ing, on the oth­er hand, offers some seri­ous advantages:

Stay Safe with Robot­ic Drossing:

Man­u­al dross-skim­ming can be very haz­ardous to work­ers. The process involves gal­va­niz­ing steel is by dip­ping it into a bath of molten zinc. This process caus­es sol­id impu­ri­ties (met­al oxide), called dross, to form at the sur­face of the bath. Dross-skim­ming is the a met­al oxide removal method.

The zinc bath is kept at an aver­age of 860 degrees Fahren­heit and the area sur­round­ing the bath can reach tem­per­a­tures of 100 degrees Fahren­heit and above. There is always the dan­ger of burns, so work­ers wear pro­tec­tive cloth­ing. This pro­tec­tive gear in turn makes the job even more tax­ing and warm. The reach­ing and lift­ing required with man­u­al skim­ming can be strain­ing and labor-inten­sive.

Robot­ic dross­ing pro­vides a safe alter­na­tive. Robots can with­stand high tem­per­a­tures and splash­es of molten zinc. Instead of tir­ing and endan­ger­ing work­ers, robots work con­sis­tent­ly with­out wearying.

Robot­ic Dross­ing Con­serves Material:

Because man­u­al dross­ing is so dan­ger­ous and so tax­ing on work­ers, con­sis­ten­cy can be dif­fi­cult to achieve. Zinc can be unnec­es­sar­i­ly wast­ed. At the same time, prod­uct can be marred when the zinc bath isn’t thor­ough­ly skimmed. When this hap­pens, met­al oxide often adheres to the steel, streak­ing and mar­ring the fin­ish.

With indus­tri­al robots han­dling the dross-skim­ming, mate­r­i­al can be con­served and the process is con­sis­tent. The robot will always remove dross at the same rate.

Robots​.com offers a vari­ety of new and refur­bished robots suit­able for robot­ic dross­ing. Exam­ples include the Nachi SA series as well as many Fanuc mod­els such as the M‑710i mod­el.

Look­ing for a robot­ic dross­ing solu­tion? Con­tact Robots​.com online or at 877−762−6881 for more information.