Sprue/Metal Cutting Robot Application

[kirimiabu]

Hi All,

I've just got a task to use robot for another application. I want to use robot on sprue cutting process. A casted metal (workpiece) has sprue all arround it that we have to cut. Currently, we use a manpower to do such thing but we found that it might be more efficient if we use robot.

What I'm wondering about is:
1. the force that we apply to move the metal through circular metal saw is very high. Is the robot can hold that high force?
2. if the metal is to hard to cut, the robot servo will stall and the robot will assume it as emergency condition. is it right?

so, is it possible to use robot to grip and cut metal toward circular saw?

kindly wishing for your reply ;)
thank you

@mod: sorry if repost or incorrect room

[rdixiemiller]

 This is not an uncommon task for a robot. You will need a robot with enough weight capacity to pick up the part, obviously. I would lower the part onto the saw blade instead of pushing through. use the weight of the casting to assist the cutting process. if you overload an axis, the robot will fault out.

[kirimiabu]

hi rdixiemiller, thanks for your reply.

good idea, but I think it doesn't significantly assist the cutting process because my casting workpiece is only about 200 grams in weight, it's quite light right?
I have a plan by calculating the force applied to cut the workpiece by hand, then I can choose which robot will be used to replace the hand used. But I don't know how to find the proper calculation untill now. Do you have another idea to share with?

thank you.

[rdixiemiller]

 If you can calculate the weight, then you can figure the force . If the part only weight 200 grams, you won't have much of an issue. I would get a robot that has a load capacity of at least 2X the weight of the part and the end effector. That should leave leave plenty of capacity to push through a saw. Are you using an abrasive cutoff wheel, or a saw blade (cold saw)? Is the part ferrous or non-ferrous? If the saw blade takes a lot of force to push through, and you don't want a large robot, then you can make a saw table with a pusher to assist the robot. This could be nothing more than an air cylinder that gives some extra push to the part, or, you can have the robot hold the part against a stop and feed the saw blade through the piece. There are as many solutions to this application as there are programmers, so I would advise you look at the whole process and determine what the best approach will be. Companies often want to automate a manual process without buying anything new except a robot. Often, this is not the best case. Some modifications to the saw (cheapest piece of equipment you have) will often result in a more robust, effective system.