With the advancement of Industry 4.0, more and more enterprises have entered the era of "autonomous driving", and automation has become a fashionable, trendy, and worry-free mode. The automatic loading, production processing, and automatic unloading of products into the next production process, without the need for manual participation, has become a very common thing in today's era.
Today, we will analyze the specific content of this production workstation using a robot combined with a lathe project.
1. Lathe
A lathe is a machine tool that uses a turning tool to turn rotating workpieces. Lathe is the most important type of metal cutting machine tool, with the highest number of lathes in general machine manufacturing factories. It is also known as the working mother machine. At the same time, drill bits, reamers, taps, dies, and rolling tools can also be used on the lathe for corresponding processing.
The commonly seen lathes can be divided into two categories:
① Ordinary machine tool
During processing, the mechanical tool is shaken by hand to cut metal, and the accuracy of the product is measured using tools such as calipers with the eyes.
② Numerical control lathe (also known as CNC lathe, which is a computer-controlled lathe)
It can automatically process any product and component directly according to the pre-programmed program provided by technical personnel.
2. The advantages of industrial robots cooperating with lathes for loading and unloading materials
Robot lathe loading and unloading is the automatic loading and unloading function of workpieces that replaces manual labor in the loading and unloading process of CNC machine tools. It is mainly suitable for large-scale, highly repetitive, or heavy work-pieces with harsh working conditions such as high temperature and dust, or to save labor costs and improve factory automation.
① The operation speed of the CNC machine tool for loading and unloading and the automatic loading and unloading robot is more stable, and the working time is longer. It is not affected by external factors and will not be emotional. The loading and unloading robot arm has high precision through programmed actions, and the production efficiency of the automated loading and unloading robot arm is higher, resulting in better product quality. In addition to the inability to increase the fixed production and processing cycle, automatic loading and unloading have replaced manual operations, which can effectively control the cycle and avoid the impact of human factors on the production cycle, greatly improving production efficiency.
② Improving the surface quality of work-piece processing, the process of loading, clamping, and unloading is completed by robots, reducing intermediate links and greatly improving the quality of parts, especially the more beautiful surface of the work-piece.
③ Programmatic operation with adjustable speed.
④ Reduce human losses. It can avoid worker injuries, machine damage, and work-piece damage caused by manual operation
3. Application and composition of lathe+industrial robot project
The robot lathe loading and unloading project is an automated solution aimed at improving production efficiency and reducing manual operations. The system typically consists of the following key components:
A. Feeding section
The feeding section is the beginning of the entire automation process, responsible for placing raw materials or semi-finished products into the lathe processing position. This usually involves precise positioning of automated conveying systems or robotic arms.
B. Industrial robots
Industrial robots are the core of automated loading and unloading systems, and suitable robot bodies are selected based on the weight, size, and specific customer needs of the lathe processed products.
For example, the six axis robot produced by BORUNTE can flexibly adapt to different production schemes. It has six degrees of freedom and can achieve more complex motion trajectories, making it suitable for situations that require high precision and large loads. The flexibility and accuracy of six axis robots make them very popular in industrial automation.
C. Lathe
A lathe is a machine tool used for metal processing, used to machine the outer surface and inner holes of rotating bodies. According to the processing requirements, the lathe can be a CNC lathe or a traditional lathe, with different precision and processing capabilities.
D. Fixture gripper
A fixture gripper is a tool used to secure and transport workpieces. The design form needs to be customized according to the shape, size, and processing technology of the product to ensure the stability and safety of the workpiece during the processing.
E. Cutting section
The cutting part is responsible for removing the processed finished products from the lathe and placing them on the conveyor line, material frame, or platform according to customer needs for subsequent inspection, packaging, or storage.
4. Attached project design precautions
1). Confirm the processing technology, the processing position of each technology, the clamping position of the spindle chuck, and the processing cycle (provide processing video);
2). Consider the positioning method of the product in the device. Is it directional? In the case of splitting, the lathe spindle must have automatic centering or spindle positioning function (what is the positioning accuracy).
3). What is the clamping method of the product: pneumatic chuck, hydraulic chuck, or spring chuck, and what is the diameter of the spindle chuck?
4).What is the clamping gap between the lathe spindle chuck and the product to be processed, at least 0.5mm or more, and does the chuck has a chamfer?
5). Does product processing require reversing? If so, add a flipping table.
6). Position of lathe tool holder: front or rear. is there enough space in both horizontal and vertical directions? Will the front knife holder interfere with the loading and unloading of the robot?
7). How to open the safety door of the lathe, single door or double door? Is it an automatic door? No, do you need to change the safety door to an automatic door? What is the opening distance?
8). Determine whether cutting chips will hang on the work-piece during the machining process, and whether they will not be cleaned thoroughly after machining, leading to the next feeding failure; (The tool can be equipped with a chip blowing function, but the chip blowing effect cannot be guaranteed, or the customer can add cutting fluid or blow air to remove chips);
9). Will the lathe produce continuous chips? The customer needs to change it to a chip-breaking tool.
10). Whether the incoming work-piece is standard, whether there is a batch front, and whether this batch front will affect the feeding mechanism. The fixture clamping position must ensure the accuracy of the incoming material; otherwise, it cannot be accurately positioned.
The use of robot loading and unloading systems has high efficiency and product quality stability. The structure is simple and easy to maintain, which can meet the production of different types of products. For users, only limited adjustments are needed to quickly adjust the product structure and expand production capacity, greatly reducing the labor intensity of industrial workers.