garyhlucas
Stainless
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2013
- Location
- New Jersey
It occurs to me that we are trying to automate machining by using robots to do things the way a human would. VMCs have a moving table which works well with a human loading. However if you want simple low cost automation we really need machines with a stationary table. If the table doesn’t move you can use the spindle with a gripper or an auxiliary gripper on the side or front of the spindle to pick a part from tray or conveyor and place the finished part in a second tray or conveyor.
This same concept applies to chucker style vertical apindle lathes. Parts get picked, machined and discharged by simply moving the spindle.
I am currently applying this concept to a 16 spindle pipe drilling machine. It was intended to have 2 operators and instead we simply added 4 grippers on slides. A pipe gets picked up by a gripper on one side of the spindles and the finished pipe is picked by a second gripper on the opposite side. The new pipe is placed in the clamps while the previous part drops in a cart. No robots, and way faster than a robot or human.
This same concept applies to chucker style vertical apindle lathes. Parts get picked, machined and discharged by simply moving the spindle.
I am currently applying this concept to a 16 spindle pipe drilling machine. It was intended to have 2 operators and instead we simply added 4 grippers on slides. A pipe gets picked up by a gripper on one side of the spindles and the finished pipe is picked by a second gripper on the opposite side. The new pipe is placed in the clamps while the previous part drops in a cart. No robots, and way faster than a robot or human.