Posts by fraza44

Scott, seem like you got real good feed back on your question. I really didn't have any more info concerning Comau robots.

Andre

Scott,

No I didn't end up getting the robot but it sure was a good deal at the time but it would have been just to much work and expense for the electrical portion of the project.

If you don't mind, what do you plan to do with the Comau should you buy it?

Andre

Vladarius, with your knowledge of Comau robots can you tell me are the NJ4 170 axis belt driven or direct gearing.

This is the robot I was going after and the seller had lower his price significantly. When I look at the placement of the motors, it seem like the lower motor are handling the upper axis motions.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3534142752…lMAAOSwVu1gR8Ak

Comau are the best I've found to date as far as low hours and pretty much being in new like condition. I've been searching for months.

I tried to avoided Fanuc because of the reputation of the company not being very helpful when it comes to their older out of date robots and Kuka just seem like it would be allot harder to learn and program not to mention Kuka tend to be more expensive on the used mark.

massula  Vladarius, guys thank you for all your input. Unfortunately my deal for the Comau fell through because of very high shipping cost. I had a certain budget and the shipping cost just to me way over budget.

I'm located in Florida and the Comau are on the other side of the country in California. This is just to bad because the seller really has two nice NJ4 170 robots with less then 3000 hour which pretty much makes them brand new.

Paying what I felt was really high shipping cost would have broke my budget and I would not have money for all the other related expenses like a phase converter and transformer to convert my workshop 240v single phase to 480v 3 phase. I was also planning to have some type of steal base manufactured to mount the robot on and there were other expenses.

Another problem was the seller not providing documentation and contacts for persons who may have had knowledge about the robots. Three time he told me he would get some kind of detailed information on the robots and he never did. He just kept sending me thing related to closing the deal but never any detailed info on the robots.

Unfortunately tech support shot the idea of using the RCS3 controller down. Here is a response from Tech Support when I inquired about the difference

"The ACC is the standard C5G controller. If you have a need for robosafe, I would recommend the RCS. Keep in mind you can not mix and match controllers

I take this sentence to mean I can only use the original controller which came with the robot. The robot in question has manufacture date of 2009 but the RCS3 controller has manufacture date of 2016.

On another note, in order to operate a robot do you have to have a safety fence in order for the robot to function or is this something you can bypass. There will be no one in my workshop but me and two other people so I planned just to do a painted safety line around the robot but then I remember seeing something in the Camua operation manual which made it seem like there was a connection point for safety fence latch device.

massula, I received this information from Comau Tech Support concerning the Controller differences.

"C5G RCS3-EAM
RCS = Robot Controller Safe - Includes Hardware/Software for Robosafe
3 = Size of the controller = NJ over 175 up to 370 and NJ 450 - 2.7
E = APC830 processor
AM = American Version Controller

C5G ACC3

ACC = Automation Control Cabinet
3 = Size of the controller = NJ over 175 up to 370 and NJ 450 - 2.7"

I think I can convince the seller to match up whatever controller I want to go with the Robot since both these controller will support a NJ4 170 robot.

Do you think I should go for the C5G RCS3-EAM since it includes the Hardware/Software for Robosafe. From my brief reading it seems like Robosafe allow better human safe interaction with robots.

I'm not sure if the "ACC" based controller is anything more special then a standard C5G controller. The word "Automation" being in the title does make me wonder if it has any special software.

I sent an email back to Comau Tech Support to see if the could give more details on the ACC and RoboSafe as it applies to a Comau robot so we'll see what they say.

massula your answers gave me exactly what I needed. Thank you so much for responding and in the future I will be more patient while waiting for responses to my inquiries.

massula, thank you so much. I thought it had something possibly to do with the options installed in the cabinet. So now I know.

Come on folks, nothing after 27 views. Did I post this in the wrong section or is my questions not appropriate.

Any advise would be helpful.

The subject line pretty much says it all. I'm doing some research and trying to find any documentation which would shed light on the differences btw these to C5G versions. There is nothing on the net and nothing in the C5G controller manual I downloads.

If anyone could direct me to a site or a document I can do the research I just need to know where to look.

Thanks

All,

I'm fully retired now and have developed a serious interest into robotics. I'm not looking to get into any career related to robotics but more the hobbyist approach. I have a huge 900sqft space with totally professional rewired 240v electricity throughout.

I have a chance to purchase a 2009 Comau Smart NJ4 170-2.5 robot with less than 3000hr for almost as cheap as what I could get a smaller robot for. Yes, I'm aware of the dangers of being a novice and working with an large industrial robot, I promise I plan to treat this endeavor with the greatest respect for safety. I didn't survive Iraq and Afghanistan to loose my life or limbs to a robot.

I've been researching the various robots, Kuka, Fanuc, Motoman, etc and all those manufacture have a big following on this forum and in the industry. There are plenty of tutorial on YouTube for those robots but not much on Comau. Even the Comau info on this forum is light but I've read allot of the posts and I'm still trying to get throw the 200+ page C5G manual.

Those of you with experience with Comau and other robot could you please chime in on the below questions. I have to make a decision to go for the purchase of the Comau or not in the next few days.

1. What is the learning difficulty level of the Comau C5G controller as compared to let say Kuka or Fanuc? I guess I'm asking which is the easiest to program?

2. Are there other forums with more content for Comau robots?

3. How easiest is to integrate various hardware such as Siemen into a C5G and software such a MoveIT, Mimic, and MATLAB?

4. How forthcoming is Comau Support when it comes to software upgrade for legacy product?

5. How easy is it to get answers to questions from Comau Support if you own a older robot?

6. How does 2009 C5G controller compare to other manufacture controller from the same era when it come to tech level. I know some of the older Kuka controllers used Win95?

I'll stop here because this post is long winded already but any advise would be appreciate and take it easy on me because I am a novice but I'm willing to learn.

Thanks All

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I will skip the GM variant of the KRC2 and try and hold out for something newer.

I know this is an old posting but I'm interested in purchasing a Kuka KR150 with GM KRC2 controller for personal usage. I was wondering if you were able to get your problems solved and actually bring the robot online?

What is your impression of the GM KRC2 controller, has it made thing allot more difficult for working with your KR150?

Does the added safety feature of the GM KRC2 version give you allot more safety over the normal KRC2?

These are detailed option offered on the Kuka I'm looking at:

KRC2 GM Hybrid
KUKA Smartpad Control Pendant
X11 Safety Circuit

I hope you will respond because I don't want to bother with this controller if it can't be updated for a reasonable amount of money or if the GM and X11 makes it unbearable to work with.