Hi Guys,
I run a manufacturing business and have been looking seriously into buying a robot for our weldments. Naturally I am uneasy about it as its out of my realm of expertise. I have watched a lot of videos on programming and it seems really straight forward. Most of our weldments are heavy plate and take about 5 minutes to tack and 35 minutes to weld manually. Parts rarely ever differ if at all. We are use to making jigs for our mill so I think we could fixture the parts for good results.
There seems to be good value in purchasing a used robot. The control/pendent doesn't look like its changed much over the years (correct me if I'm wrong). The robots I am looking at are between the year 2000-2005 and are 100i's or 120i's (has both available). I am not opposed to just buying a brand new robot and running from there, but want to make sure before i invest the money.
The arm itself seems pretty straight forward and simple in terms or bearings/motors and such.
What should I look for when buying something like this used? is there anything that would be worn out that will be particularly hard to get or priced high enough that it would make sense to just buy a new one?
Need more production out of our welding department, and i think this is the answer instead of hiring more men.
Thanks for any help and input!!!