Mastercam on a robot in the office at In-House Solutions

[Tyler Robertson]

Figured I'd copy this over

 

"All the parts came in, and after a pit of fiddling, and some attempts at building anything in an office environmen t, we got it cutting parts.

Not bad for a robot that has no business milling anything.

 

Especially since:

 

-Spindle has no cooling, so is running at 3k rpm instead of a possible 30k.

- Robot can handle 3kg at max velocity/reach. We have it holding 4.6kg

- Spindle requires 3-phase @ 240. We have it plugged into the wall.

 

3 - axis roughing

3 - axis highspeed floor finish

3-axis convert to 5 axis for scallop finish"

 

 

[RobertELee]

So where's the video?!?

[Chris Rizzo]

Cool! Program it to wash coffee mugs or something office related, that should work fine on 110v.

[Bruce Kanzelmeyer]

Is that a REN block that you "machined"?

 

I'm working on machining a ren block in full 5-axis mode with over 20 operations and 4 tool changes using our robot--if I can ever get a break in our production on the machine. I'll let you know how it works, if anyone's interested! We're using Robotmaster as well. Robotmaster automatically breaks the code into subprograms that are smoothly swapped in and out of the controller from a PCMCIA card. The program I'm working on has over 50 subprograms.

[Tyler Robertson]

Yep - medium density I believe.

 

That's great to hear Bruce, and definitely keep us updated.

 

Not to count chickens before they're hatched, but we've got some new programming tools coming out in X4 that I've been testing so far, and they're making my life a breeze.

[peon]

How did you manage to get Adam Sandler to demonstrate the contraption?

[Tyler Robertson]

quote:

---

Cool! Program it to wash coffee mugs or something office related, that should work fine on 110v.

---

Finally got a bit of time in office, so okay!

 

 

Milling videos aren't done being edited *sigh*

[Tyler Robertson]

quote:

---

How did you manage to get Adam Sandler to demonstrate the contraption? [big Grin]

---

haha, first time I got that one

[kkominiarek]

What type of tolerances can that setup hold?

 

I explored using a robot as well as robotmaster about a year and a half ago. +/- .005" was the tolerance anyone would guarantee. I need to hold at least +/-.002" to consider it. I'd be using it for larger parts.....6"od x 8" long up to 36"od x 20" long.

[Tyler Robertson]

This robot isn't calibrated properly for any kind of precision work, and even then I don't know who would claim their robot can hold more than +/- 0.004 consistently. That said, I'm heading to Fanuc canada in a couple weeks - they said they had some new calibration systems in place and setups that are "achieving CNC tolerances"

 

I'll keep you posted

[Müřlıń®]

What kind of robot arm is that?

[Tyler Robertson]

Motoman HP3JC

[shazam/TPP]

i know some are thinking, what "other" attachments are included with that robot and when will those vids be posted.

[kkominiarek]

thanks tyler.....i'll be waiting

[metalmasher]

Does anyone know if there is a demo of robotmaster available, and if so where? I would like to see how it all works Thanks.

[Jacob Featherstone]

I've used Mastercam in conjunction with Robotmaster for a few years to program a 6-axis Motoman HP50 waterjet cutter. The interface of the two programs is great and I'm usually only limited by my imagination when creating paths... And the whole system continues to improve.

 

BUT

 

Speaking to the accuracy of the system:

We're really limited to what the robots can achieve. Even with an aftermarket filter, over a meter cubed envelop we're lucky if we see +/-2mm in a single configuration. Start working on a lot of different planes and the +/- grows and grows.

 

The strong point of the robot is its repeatability... So, basically you need to cut safe, CMM the part, alter your CAD to suit and do a final cut. That's how we achieve the tolerances that we need.

 

Once you have to program set up, the robot's repeatability won't let you down and a production part run can be made.

[Jacob Featherstone]

Tyler, What model of Fanuc is acheiving this "CNC type accuracy". I'm planning a meeting with Fanuc in Mississauga and will be taking our FARO arm to test out some of their machines. I would like to have a better series of model specific questions to ask them... Specifically about raw computer to arm accuracy - before any filtering or adjustment is made.

 

How did your meeting go at Fanuc, was the robot as accurate as they claimed?

[Tyler Robertson]

hey Jacob - I didn't get a chance to sit down and run trials - there wasn't anything specifically set up, but they did have some results from tests in Michigan I believe.

They are using Leica calibration methods to improve robot performance, but they also have their own filtering, so I'm not sure if there's any model specifically that is producing a more accurate path (sorry, not really the info you're looking for)

 

Ask them the same questions though and let me know how you make out