Automation
Compact, High-Precision Robots
Denso’s range of four-axis Scara and five- and six-axis articulated robots features a maximum moment of inertia, permitting flexibility in the choice of end effectors for a variety of applications. Metalworking applications include cutting, grinding, and polishing, turning, machining, machine tending, material handling, material removal, workholding and workhandling. The robots’ compact design, along with concealed electrical wiring and air lines, reduces interference with surrounding equipment and facilitates integration.
Read MoreSix-Axis Robot Moves Large, Heavy Parts With Stability
Fanuc Robotics’ M-2000iA offers a 900-kg payload and allows users to move large, heavy parts such as truck, tractor and automotive frames with maximum stability. The rigid arm design of the robot has a vertical lifting stroke of 6. 2 m for transferring heavy items such as a car body.
Read MoreMAG Expands VMC Production
In response to changes in the global economic environment, Erlanger, Kentucky-based MAG Industrial Automation Systems is adjusting its product portfolio, production sites, sales and technical support network to improve its position in the VMC segment. The company says it will develop larger 2- and 3-meter models of recently introduced VMC product lines, which will be introduced in October 2009 at the upcoming EMO show in Milan, Italy. In the first quarter of 2009, the company’s Chatsworth, California facility will increase VMC production to shorten delivery times, says Mark Logan, vice president of business development and marketing for MAG Americas.
Read MoreEMO Exhibitors Seem Undeterred By Recession
As of December 2008, 1,000 companies had finalized their attendance to EMO Milano 2009, booking a net exhibition area of about 100,000 square meters. As many as 65 percent of companies confirming their attendance hail from abroad, a figure that emphasizes the international character of the event, promoters say. Approximately 200,000 visitors are expected to attend the international metalworking exhibition, which will showcase technology ranging from metal cutting, metal forming, and cutting tools to auxiliary equipment and automation.
Read MoreAutomated Turning For Small And Large Batches
The VL-Y from Emag is fully equipped with a Y axis (50-mm travel); a chip conveyor; a machining area extraction unit; a fluid-cooling system for spindle motor and turret; and automation equipment for loading and unloading workpieces. The machine features a recirculating workpiece storage conveyor on which “carrier prisms” deliver raw parts and collect the finish-machined components from the pick-up spindle. The pick-up station is located behind the machining area, so the operator can continue removing finish-machined components and inserting new raw parts into the carrier prisms at the front.
Read MoreRobotic Toolchanger For Heavy Automation
The QC-1210, a robotic toolchanger designed for payloads as heavy as 2,650 lbs (1,200 kg), is available from ATI Industrial Automation. The heavy automation toolchanger features three of the company’s patented Fail-Safe locking mechanisms to ensure high moment capacity and strength. Compatible with existing heavy automation toolchanger utility modules, the modular construction allows integration into applications requiring high power, coolant, servo, DeviceNet, Ethernet and discrete-signal capabilities.
Read MoreConveyor System Designed For Flexibility
Dorner’s 5200 series Qwik conveyor Z frame allows end users to change product delivery elevations. Combining Z-frames and nose-over options with curved and straight conveyors allows users to complete an entire mainline conveyor system while maximizing vertical space, the company says. Modularity and quick-change features give end users in the industrial, automation and packaging industries flexibility to quickly and easily modify their conveyor systems according to production needs, the company says.
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Robotic Cell Locks In Time, Cost Savings
Having implemented robotic systems in the sheet metal side of its business, this Nevada-based shop wanted to obtain similar automation systems for its CNC machining operations. The Fanuc JobShop Cell from Methods Machine Tools has reduced both costs and cycle times on one of the shop’s most important jobs.
Read MoreGF AgieCharmilles Offers New OSS Smart Machining Feature
GF AgieCharmilles? OSS (Operator Support System) automatically configures cutting parameters to optimize machine performance based on specific job requirements. Standard on any high-speed or high-performance machining center, OSS provides users with an intuitive interface for entering data that is then used to tailor machining processes. When using OSS, operators are asked to rank the relative priority of a job's accuracy, cutting time and surface quality.
Read MoreOkuma Hosts 2nd Interoperability Symposium
The second annual Organization for Machine Automation and Control (OMAC) integration and interoperability symposium is quickly approaching. The event, hosted by Okuma America Corporation, is scheduled for December 3-4 at the Partners In Thinc facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. The keynote speaker is SAP’s Vivek Bapat, who is also the co-author of “In Pursuit of the Perfect Plant.
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