🙏 There alot left to do and Im a bit afraid of slowing down accually 😆. I need to get past the mechanics asap and into the electronic/programming stage, thats going to take a bit of time and consideration.
oh snap. at first I was like oh this is basic.. then the suction cups and all that.... this is going to be so impressive looking. you should do three emergency stops. one BIG one for stopping everything. one for the cnc machin. and one for the robot. I might need to machine you one GIANT e stop button.
No cage. But there will be another lidar installed. It'll have the same features as the one on the Kimla. Slows down if you come somewhat close, stops and requires reset if TOO close. The robot will also have its speed and acceleration set permanently pretty slow, im not in a hurry. The router will run for 1-3 hours before its time to swap sheets. Think i will set it up so the router is in charge of the robot. So that i program the router to move back to a row of buttons when its finished and there it will tell the robot what to do, meaning "Empty" table, "Load HDF" and "Load alu". (This is so that i dont need to get into the kimla plc for the signals,make two separate programs and its also an easy way for me to manually trigger what i want) For crash prevention I think i will install two basic NO switches connected to estop for both machines. The loop with these two switches needs to always be closed. So that the router gantry needs to be at the back in a specific spot (closing the switch) to allow the robot to move and the same with the robot, only when the robot is back in its parking position will the router be able to move away from its switch and start the next program. If both switches are ever open at the same time, then the loop is open and estop for both machines is activated. Im frikkin PUMPED about starting to fiddle with it! Had a succesful unload of a real cut sheet the other day!
Is there really that much work for routed aluminum sheet where you are or do you just have one customer that really loves using aluminum sheet for everything? I have had a machine shop for years and done a lot of aluminum parts, but maybe
Alot is for the defence industry and they love using alu cause of weight constraints. We also do quite a bit of light mounts for various vehicles and while they can be of steel, if you dont need the strength then alu is great. Alot of the stuff we do could also be done on a laser or punching machine, but if you do alot of parts with threads,countersinks and just breaking the edges with a brushmachine isnt enough then a router is hard to beat. We double side chamfer all parts (without flipping), countersink and thread all in one go. We do also cut thicker stuff, typically up to 20mm, we engrave and do extruded profiles aswell. Bending is really quick so the router is always the bottneneck. Having the robot gives me so many more hours and I dont have to cram all cutting in during the day. And this fall is looking like its going to get real busy, I dont want to start giving longer lead times so the robot is a must. The robot makes so much more sense than getting another router as that would require me to rent more space, get more power, more air and vacuum pumps that need service and generates heat, and I have to run like a mad man keeping both running during the day and then having two machines just sit there idle all night. Im really looking forward to getting this optimized.. Thanks for watching :)
Hey, where did you buy your chip separator? We are running a similar setup but we are having trouble with chip extraction. It may be our pump size so if you could share what your setup is it would be great. Thanks
Its accually "home-made", i talk about it here ua-cam.com/video/dluKO1VESRQ/v-deo.html Not sure but If i remember correcly the side channel blower motor is a 5kw.
Hi. 1) Does it seem to me or does the crossbeam have an open contour? I may be wrong, but a large beam with a closed contour would be a little more complicated, but much tougher and stronger for twisting. 2) The robot seems ill-suited for changing sheets and removing finished parts. I would suggest modifying the CNC machine into something conceptually similar to the TruLaser Center 7030. What do you think about it? UPD. What are the usual sizes of sheets, if not a secret?
Hi. 1) Yes, its not a "box" and not as stiff or strong, The design might (probably) change some time for some reason but I do however feel there is no need for more stiffness. When a sheet is stuck to the vacuumpads underneath it'll gain some stiffness due to the same effect but again, not really needed. 2) I started out thinking about a palleting solution but I think the robot solution is unbeatable. Some reasons are these: No need to modify the router. The motivation here is expense, time, risk and space constraints. No need to move machinery or halter production capability while i build and learn. Critical! I only have 1 program to run to clear the table, same every single time! And it removes all parts, skeleton, potential leftover chips and the spoilboard all in 1 go. Minimizing risks of unexpected things to happen. 1 program to unload, 1 program to load new hdf, 1 program to load choosen thickness alu. Thats it. No custom program for every cut sheet. (I can also use the robot for other things like pressing in clinching nuts, but that for later :) There will also be a distance sensor under it so that the robot knows when its reached the top of the stack, so it doesnt matter if theres 1 or 50 sheets in it. The added benefit here is that since the bottom hight of the stack is known, everytime the robot picks up a sheet of any thickness, it'll know how many are left. Even if i have hand loaded one since last time. Since i use a vacuum table, the only way (i can think of) to remove it is to scoop it up. (unless i had like popup pins underneath and then a fork, but that would be the same thing.) The sheet storage density is great with a robot, i can easily have over 10 different thicknesses within the robot reach. It also takes up very little space when not in use, i lift the scoop up to the ceiling or somewhere out of the way. The goal is to have a stack of alternating hdf/alu next to the door when i come in the morning. I'll use the forklift to lift up the stack to a comfortable level and pick out the parts for bending and discard the skeleton ect. Probably flip the hdf sheets and put them back in storage. Doing these things robotically just isnt worth it, i have to take the parts to the bender anyway and toss out the skeleton. The complexity of varying shapes of skeletons and parts (and risk of chips) might just stop a night run due to this small potential gain. I would also need to keep all this within the robot reach, thereby reducing the space for new material/other things. I'll easily clear up a stack in minutes that might have taken all night to cut. Sheetsizes are 95% 1250x2500mm and sometimes 1000x2000. The suctioncups are placed so it'll manage both. Thanks for asking the question! It's always good for me to reflect on the choices Ive made. And justifying my reasoning and actions to myself! :)
@@randomrouting Thank you for the detailed answer. 1) If it works, it's better not to touch it:) 2) For the most part I agree, but not with everything. The storage density of the sheets. I didn't quite understand the order of work. do you need to bring stacks of sheets from the warehouse every time? If they are constantly stored near the robot, then the compactness is questionable. The best thing I've seen is a multi-level shelving. Its dimensions are slightly larger than the dimensions of the sheet, but the capacity is very large due to its height. If you provide it with pull-out shelves, then the robot will be able to take sheets with suction cups. And such a rack can be a permanent storage place, you will not need to bring the material to the robot every time and monitor its correct location. The simplicity of the software is not the merit of the robot, but of the task. "The goal is to have a stack of alternating hdf/alus next to the door when I arrive in the morning. " The choice of mechanics here has little effect. Surely it is possible to replace the robot with significantly simpler and cheaper mechanisms. But it doesn't matter anymore, you already have a robot, it's also very interesting :) A couple of ill-conceived ideas. You can put the robot on a linear axis. This will give a huge working area. You can try to make an auto-change or a quick tool change for the robot. To be honest, this is the first time I see a case where this is in demand :) You can see how something similar was done by DMG mori, a quick-change pallet (actually a table) for milling cutters. Now they have a special mount, and earlier there was something similar to 4 BT30 cones.
@@ДмитрийМ-ч6м Sry i missed your reply. The alu sheets will be stored within the robot reach, they will always need storing somewhere so best is to store them at the robot. Also a problem i have seen with stacking towers is that they cant take load of 1000kg per alu thickness. Sure you could split it up to perhaps 2 x 500 ? but still, i better just use the robot to grab the sheets from its storage space. I want to buy 1000kg every time since that means itll all be from the same batch of production so that its as consistent as possible. A "simpler and cheaper" way using pallets was explored early on but eventually deemed to be inferior to the robot in terms of time to implement and ease of installation. Cost would probably (pure money wise) probably have been less tho, but I got such a good deal on the robot that i cant complain, the robot can do other tasks aswell! And with the robot this way, both it and the sheets are out of the way. I can walk around like i am used too and its not too tightly squeezed in there. A rack for linear travel for the robot was briefly explored but veery expensive and it would just be in the middle of the shop. I would be very annoyed to walk,clean, work around it :P Might be cheaper and better to use 2 robots if that came to be. I will use this "dual purpose" tool for now that unloads and loads sheets but yes, later there will be a tool changing option. :) Probably diy. Thanks for the input :) ✌
@@randomrouting "Sorry, I missed your comment." It's not scary. If you answer all the "experts" in the comments, then there will be no time to work :) It is possible to design a stacking tower of the required strength. It seems to me a fairly simple task. The question is whether you have a manufacturer nearby who can order the manufacture of metal structures. There are quite a lot of such companies in my area, and probably you too. In general, it is very interesting to see a robot at work. I will be waiting for the next videos. Auto-change on a robot is a very interesting task. If you have time, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this matter. It doesn't matter in what format, text or video.
G'mornin! Yeah both. We got some large quantities of parts coming up this fall and the plan is to do night shifts and potentially/hopefully whole weekends. We'll see how it goes, I bet there's gremlins to be discovered and remedied on the way. Since im answering the phone,emails, doing the programming, sorting surface treatments,paints ect during he day while I need to keep the router running by swapping sheets/changing programs I often dont get enough cutting done during a day. Having 3x more hours at my disposal every day will be amazing. I should be able to plan the most suitable runs for when I leave or schedule them for later in the night when the electricity costs less. Very much looking forward to getting there, and the journey bth.
@@randomrouting awesome, it's definitely going to be a boost in productivity, maybe a track in the future would help? To load 2 sheets in the machine. And maybe it would be a good idea to find a helper that could help with the office parts and you focus more on production
@@franciscolobaton7563 I will be using the second table for special fixtures/jobs, there really isnt much point in loading it robotically since it'll just keep swapping on the first table. Really handy to have the full 6 meter anyways due to the amount of alu extrusions we machine, they come in 6 meter lengths. A track i found to be very expensive but would be really cool. Maybe in a distant future there will be a robot for the bender but that's way off yet. Another robot could swap tools to infinately expand the tool capacity :) Plenty of ideas but yeah, This is it for the forseeable future. My wife does some bending,assembly and some office work. I will automate more of the officework and leave the rest to her at some point. I just did the first "Unload" with the robot and it worked very well for a first try, i need to adjust accelerations and fine tune the trajectory but it worked so im happy :) Thanks for joining me on this adventure!
@@randomrouting yeah, with the track the one robot could do the router and the bender. I really been liking the automation you'd been doing. And the fact that you can output parts almost finished out of the same machine is really cool. I don't know much about robots but maybe you should add a cage to it, even if you are mostly the only one in the shop is good to have more safety. Do you have in mind expanding into 4 or 5 axis? Or just keeping to sheet stock and improve your quality?
more videos pls! these are awesome
That is beautiful. You're not slowing down! 💪
I'm always impressed how clean is your workplace.
🙏 There alot left to do and Im a bit afraid of slowing down accually 😆. I need to get past the mechanics asap and into the electronic/programming stage, thats going to take a bit of time and consideration.
oh snap. at first I was like oh this is basic.. then the suction cups and all that.... this is going to be so impressive looking. you should do three emergency stops. one BIG one for stopping everything. one for the cnc machin. and one for the robot.
I might need to machine you one GIANT e stop button.
Will you make a cage or will the robot be free to swing this giant pitchfork around?
No cage. But there will be another lidar installed. It'll have the same features as the one on the Kimla. Slows down if you come somewhat close, stops and requires reset if TOO close.
The robot will also have its speed and acceleration set permanently pretty slow, im not in a hurry. The router will run for 1-3 hours before its time to swap sheets.
Think i will set it up so the router is in charge of the robot. So that i program the router to move back to a row of buttons when its finished and there it will tell the robot what to do, meaning "Empty" table, "Load HDF" and "Load alu". (This is so that i dont need to get into the kimla plc for the signals,make two separate programs and its also an easy way for me to manually trigger what i want)
For crash prevention I think i will install two basic NO switches connected to estop for both machines. The loop with these two switches needs to always be closed.
So that the router gantry needs to be at the back in a specific spot (closing the switch) to allow the robot to move and the same with the robot, only when the robot is back in its parking position will the router be able to move away from its switch and start the next program.
If both switches are ever open at the same time, then the loop is open and estop for both machines is activated.
Im frikkin PUMPED about starting to fiddle with it! Had a succesful unload of a real cut sheet the other day!
Is there really that much work for routed aluminum sheet where you are or do you just have one customer that really loves using aluminum sheet for everything? I have had a machine shop for years and done a lot of aluminum parts, but maybe
Alot is for the defence industry and they love using alu cause of weight constraints. We also do quite a bit of light mounts for various vehicles and while they can be of steel, if you dont need the strength then alu is great.
Alot of the stuff we do could also be done on a laser or punching machine, but if you do alot of parts with threads,countersinks and just breaking the edges with a brushmachine isnt enough then a router is hard to beat. We double side chamfer all parts (without flipping), countersink and thread all in one go.
We do also cut thicker stuff, typically up to 20mm, we engrave and do extruded profiles aswell.
Bending is really quick so the router is always the bottneneck. Having the robot gives me so many more hours and I dont have to cram all cutting in during the day. And this fall is looking like its going to get real busy, I dont want to start giving longer lead times so the robot is a must.
The robot makes so much more sense than getting another router as that would require me to rent more space, get more power, more air and vacuum pumps that need service and generates heat, and I have to run like a mad man keeping both running during the day and then having two machines just sit there idle all night.
Im really looking forward to getting this optimized.. Thanks for watching :)
Hey, where did you buy your chip separator? We are running a similar setup but we are having trouble with chip extraction.
It may be our pump size so if you could share what your setup is it would be great.
Thanks
Its accually "home-made", i talk about it here ua-cam.com/video/dluKO1VESRQ/v-deo.html
Not sure but If i remember correcly the side channel blower motor is a 5kw.
Hi.
1) Does it seem to me or does the crossbeam have an open contour? I may be wrong, but a large beam with a closed contour would be a little more complicated, but much tougher and stronger for twisting.
2) The robot seems ill-suited for changing sheets and removing finished parts. I would suggest modifying the CNC machine into something conceptually similar to the TruLaser Center 7030. What do you think about it?
UPD. What are the usual sizes of sheets, if not a secret?
Hi.
1) Yes, its not a "box" and not as stiff or strong, The design might (probably) change some time for some reason but I do however feel there is no need for more stiffness. When a sheet is stuck to the vacuumpads underneath it'll gain some stiffness due to the same effect but again, not really needed.
2) I started out thinking about a palleting solution but I think the robot solution is unbeatable. Some reasons are these:
No need to modify the router. The motivation here is expense, time, risk and space constraints.
No need to move machinery or halter production capability while i build and learn. Critical!
I only have 1 program to run to clear the table, same every single time! And it removes all parts, skeleton, potential leftover chips and the spoilboard all in 1 go. Minimizing risks of unexpected things to happen.
1 program to unload, 1 program to load new hdf, 1 program to load choosen thickness alu.
Thats it. No custom program for every cut sheet.
(I can also use the robot for other things like pressing in clinching nuts, but that for later :)
There will also be a distance sensor under it so that the robot knows when its reached the top of the stack, so it doesnt matter if theres 1 or 50 sheets in it. The added benefit here is that since the bottom hight of the stack is known, everytime the robot picks up a sheet of any thickness, it'll know how many are left. Even if i have hand loaded one since last time.
Since i use a vacuum table, the only way (i can think of) to remove it is to scoop it up. (unless i had like popup pins underneath and then a fork, but that would be the same thing.)
The sheet storage density is great with a robot, i can easily have over 10 different thicknesses within the robot reach.
It also takes up very little space when not in use, i lift the scoop up to the ceiling or somewhere out of the way.
The goal is to have a stack of alternating hdf/alu next to the door when i come in the morning. I'll use the forklift to lift up the stack to a comfortable level and pick out the parts for bending and discard the skeleton ect. Probably flip the hdf sheets and put them back in storage.
Doing these things robotically just isnt worth it, i have to take the parts to the bender anyway and toss out the skeleton.
The complexity of varying shapes of skeletons and parts (and risk of chips) might just stop a night run due to this small potential gain. I would also need to keep all this within the robot reach, thereby reducing the space for new material/other things.
I'll easily clear up a stack in minutes that might have taken all night to cut.
Sheetsizes are 95% 1250x2500mm and sometimes 1000x2000. The suctioncups are placed so it'll manage both.
Thanks for asking the question! It's always good for me to reflect on the choices Ive made. And justifying my reasoning and actions to myself! :)
@@randomrouting Thank you for the detailed answer.
1) If it works, it's better not to touch it:)
2) For the most part I agree, but not with everything.
The storage density of the sheets. I didn't quite understand the order of work. do you need to bring stacks of sheets from the warehouse every time? If they are constantly stored near the robot, then the compactness is questionable.
The best thing I've seen is a multi-level shelving. Its dimensions are slightly larger than the dimensions of the sheet, but the capacity is very large due to its height. If you provide it with pull-out shelves, then the robot will be able to take sheets with suction cups. And such a rack can be a permanent storage place, you will not need to bring the material to the robot every time and monitor its correct location.
The simplicity of the software is not the merit of the robot, but of the task. "The goal is to have a stack of alternating hdf/alus next to the door when I arrive in the morning. " The choice of mechanics here has little effect. Surely it is possible to replace the robot with significantly simpler and cheaper mechanisms. But it doesn't matter anymore, you already have a robot, it's also very interesting :)
A couple of ill-conceived ideas.
You can put the robot on a linear axis. This will give a huge working area.
You can try to make an auto-change or a quick tool change for the robot. To be honest, this is the first time I see a case where this is in demand :)
You can see how something similar was done by DMG mori, a quick-change pallet (actually a table) for milling cutters. Now they have a special mount, and earlier there was something similar to 4 BT30 cones.
@@ДмитрийМ-ч6м Sry i missed your reply. The alu sheets will be stored within the robot reach, they will always need storing somewhere so best is to store them at the robot.
Also a problem i have seen with stacking towers is that they cant take load of 1000kg per alu thickness. Sure you could split it up to perhaps 2 x 500 ? but still, i better just use the robot to grab the sheets from its storage space.
I want to buy 1000kg every time since that means itll all be from the same batch of production so that its as consistent as possible.
A "simpler and cheaper" way using pallets was explored early on but eventually deemed to be inferior to the robot in terms of time to implement and ease of installation.
Cost would probably (pure money wise) probably have been less tho, but I got such a good deal on the robot that i cant complain, the robot can do other tasks aswell!
And with the robot this way, both it and the sheets are out of the way. I can walk around like i am used too and its not too tightly squeezed in there.
A rack for linear travel for the robot was briefly explored but veery expensive and it would just be in the middle of the shop. I would be very annoyed to walk,clean, work around it :P
Might be cheaper and better to use 2 robots if that came to be.
I will use this "dual purpose" tool for now that unloads and loads sheets but yes, later there will be a tool changing option. :) Probably diy.
Thanks for the input :) ✌
@@randomrouting "Sorry, I missed your comment." It's not scary. If you answer all the "experts" in the comments, then there will be no time to work :)
It is possible to design a stacking tower of the required strength. It seems to me a fairly simple task. The question is whether you have a manufacturer nearby who can order the manufacture of metal structures. There are quite a lot of such companies in my area, and probably you too.
In general, it is very interesting to see a robot at work. I will be waiting for the next videos.
Auto-change on a robot is a very interesting task. If you have time, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this matter. It doesn't matter in what format, text or video.
Pretty cool
its looking awesome, what do you think are gonna be the productivity gains? its mostly for doing less heavy work or to run 24h?
I guess it is planed for night shift
G'mornin!
Yeah both. We got some large quantities of parts coming up this fall and the plan is to do night shifts and potentially/hopefully whole weekends. We'll see how it goes, I bet there's gremlins to be discovered and remedied on the way.
Since im answering the phone,emails, doing the programming, sorting surface treatments,paints ect during he day while I need to keep the router running by swapping sheets/changing programs I often dont get enough cutting done during a day. Having 3x more hours at my disposal every day will be amazing.
I should be able to plan the most suitable runs for when I leave or schedule them for later in the night when the electricity costs less.
Very much looking forward to getting there, and the journey bth.
@@randomrouting awesome, it's definitely going to be a boost in productivity, maybe a track in the future would help? To load 2 sheets in the machine. And maybe it would be a good idea to find a helper that could help with the office parts and you focus more on production
@@franciscolobaton7563 I will be using the second table for special fixtures/jobs, there really isnt much point in loading it robotically since it'll just keep swapping on the first table.
Really handy to have the full 6 meter anyways due to the amount of alu extrusions we machine, they come in 6 meter lengths.
A track i found to be very expensive but would be really cool.
Maybe in a distant future there will be a robot for the bender but that's way off yet. Another robot could swap tools to infinately expand the tool capacity :) Plenty of ideas but yeah, This is it for the forseeable future.
My wife does some bending,assembly and some office work. I will automate more of the officework and leave the rest to her at some point.
I just did the first "Unload" with the robot and it worked very well for a first try, i need to adjust accelerations and fine tune the trajectory but it worked so im happy :)
Thanks for joining me on this adventure!
@@randomrouting yeah, with the track the one robot could do the router and the bender. I really been liking the automation you'd been doing.
And the fact that you can output parts almost finished out of the same machine is really cool.
I don't know much about robots but maybe you should add a cage to it, even if you are mostly the only one in the shop is good to have more safety.
Do you have in mind expanding into 4 or 5 axis? Or just keeping to sheet stock and improve your quality?
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Nice
Thanks! it gets even nicer in part2 :)