Posts by Grahammy

The board you are using is just a pilot pneumatic valve unit. It simply turns the valve on and off, the output pressure of that valve, and all the others on that manifold, will simply be the common input pressure. You have have done well to set the valves up on the Ips, it's like a secret language ABB don't want you to know!!!!

The brush tables will set the Atomizing air, the fan shape air and the paint flow via the fluid regulator. All set up in the Ips. But.... you need a PPRU, a proportional pressure regulator (I think). This basically converts a digital electrical signal into an air pressure, using 3 output channels, very accurate and constantly monitoring the pressure in a closed loop. Very expensive as well. It is set up in the ips, and simply put, outputs the air pressures in the the 3 channels at the correct pressure to the brush table.

Have you got one of those?

Are you using irc5P?

I bought a irb5500 on irc5P, second hand from a BMW plant and lost a year of my life learning how to use it!!!!! There are good manuals for arm, for Irc5P but nothing really for setting up the ips. I took the BMW set up already in the robot and stripped out what I didn't need, added what I did.... but it was a long slow learning curve!

You will have a million things to learn and get to grips with with your first robot.... and that's just daily normal running!

Don't try and do it cheap to start with.

Nothing in this game is cheap, even using Ebay etc.

The knowledge and experience you need is awesome, that's why some of these guys on this forum are legends....

Start with a working system, learn how to make it work for you, then you can .... experiment....

On the S2, earlier version of S3, the teach pendant had limit switches to ensure it was fitted in its holder. The robot will not synchronize if the teach pendant is not in position.

Has the S3 a similar position switch? I don't know.

Can you still jog the robot as normal?

We get this from time to time on our IRB5500

4 and 6 are coupled, and if they get out of range sometimes we have to put in a big ugly 360 degree axis 6 rotation move to unwind it. Its to prevent the paint hoses in the hollow wrist from getting twisted

We put move absolute positions in the program in various places to ensure the axis are in range.

I don't know if there is a better technical answer, but that is our work around solution

Turntable - when the batteries fail on the memory board, you have either 1 or 2 fitted, all the parameters are lost and need re-entering, including gear ratios etc, have you entered all that manually?

Welder - I found the LAH 500 robust enough but the A32 was a nightmare.

Again, have you entered the parameters manually?

I think I still have A32 wiring diag.

I have S2 's still running welding in production now. I love them as I know them intimately(!!!)

I think your problem is all in the parameters you need to enter manually off the teach pendant

I have embarqued on a paint quest with ABB 5500 robot....... and soon realised that the robot is the easy part! It's the paint colours, mixing, cleaning, extraction, the cell, everything!!!!

The integration of everything else has been toughest part

I still have S2 manuals, albeit paper and not digital. Old fashioned ring binders.

My irb6 do indeed have a palletising section in the manual. I've never used it, I'm sure there is a button for it on the teach pendant

Hi, I have several Indramat TDM 3.2 Servo Modules connected to the TVM 1.2 power source.

I have the drives linked together with the X1 bus connecting cables, but I don't have the end terminating plug for the final drive.

I can't get the Bb of the TVM to come on without it.

It seems as though the end plug simply links pins 2 and 3 together, Bb and 15v ????

Is there a resistor or something in the plug though.

All the manuals I've trawled through refer to a plug, but some diagrams seem to show something in the plug, not a simple connection???

Any of you guys Indramat experts?

Thanks

I have a small factory with a handful of welding robots, 25 years +, and recently a paint robot.

I would say, if you want a career in robots, its all about application and integration, not necessarily being a brilliant programmer.

Robots are great for doing repetitive tasks, but you have to have the vision as to how it fits in your factory, how it fits in the overall scheme. Most bots do simple repetitive tasks requiring straight forward programs. Anything complicated can usually be solved after a day with your head in the manual! or a post on here...

And with trouble shooting..... how many times has someone said "robots not working".... I say whats wrong... answer is " don't know, it won't run"!

Your ability to understand the system, interpret the symptoms to know what the problem is, is invaluable. In my experience, its seldom the actual robot arm itself is at fault, its usually some periphery equipment around it, or the integration.

In my opinion, Your CV needs to show you see the bigger picture

Unless I was a big factory with loads of long established robots,

😎😎😎😎😎

Brilliant!!!

I know the irb 1400 H is the designed robot to be hung upside down.

Can you though invert a standard irb 1400?

I see axis 1 gearbox oil will need filling up.

Or maybe the question is why can't you invert a standard irb 1400?

Mig welding application and Irc5

Funnily enough, many moons ago, maybe 20 yrs, we used to have a big spot welder / resistance welder which used just 2 phases and made the lights dim on full power!

We had to get a diesel 3 phase generator and put the 4 x S2 robots on a separate clean supply.

Things like that aren't covered in the standard ABB manual!!!

These are "real life" problems, stuff which can take some serious conviction to solve and it's very hard to find someone to help!

Forums like this are a real asset.

A big thank you to all you regular experienced contributors who post and make this forum such an asset.....

irb 1400 welding robot with irc5.

For the past 6 months we have had a problem with robot losing its position after a couple of days after a modpos. 2 or 3 mm here and there. Never the same axis or orientation, just randomly out of position.

Restore or resetting rev counters didn't work.

My experience with old S2 robots is its never the robot always something else.... loose jigs, components wrong size, toggle clamps not shut, even bolts loose bolting robot to floor!

But this has tested us!

Swapped the arm, swapped the controller, swapped the cables.... it can't be the robot!

Simple program, nothing clever at all.

Suspected EMI on cables, so wrapped everything in tin foil, put lead over welding motor on arm, desperate measures!

Eventually, I have run a new 3 phase supply from a different distribution board.... and it it seems to be fixed! At least 2 weeks in.

I think that the original distribution board must have a high number of mig welding sets and when we are busy, if everyone happens to arc up at the same time, there is a voltage drop... maybe just noisy.

Anyway, it's working at last using the new 3 phase supply.

Lots of people search these forums, I certainly do, and the information is invaluable. This post is here for that future search for someone else...

I have just been down this road!!!

I got an IRB5500, straight forward enough, but the paint side was completely left to me.

I bought guns and pumps and bits of Ebay to start with and experiment until I knew what I needed.

The spray guns are easy enough to get.

You probably want proportional air to control the shape I guess?

That is fairly big money for an experiment. I just started with 3 mini regulators and 3 off 3/2 valves and just worked off pre-set pressures. 3 valves gives you 4 fan shapes, thats more than enough for me. You will need non-return valves in each line though.

I used Wagner zip52 pumps. cheap enough. Pressure pots are a pain as you can never tell how much paint is in them.

Now we are up and running, we are upgrading and replacing with new where necessary as Ebay used stuff can be pretty naff!!!

For example, a AGMD spray gun just for robots is a wad of money, but transformed us with it's consistency and repeatability.

We have built a booth and kept true to ATEX zones with extraction.

Must say though, the cheapest part of the installation has proved to be the robot!!!! The ancillary paint stuff needed goes on for ever!

I have 4 IRB6 S2 robots and recently lost one at sea!!!

We had excavated a pit in the floor and the robot was raised and lowered on a hydraulic table.

We had heavy rain 1 weekend and flooded, and I came in to find she had drowned!!!

I stripped her down and dried her out but she never ran right again, God bless her.

I have replaced her with irb1400 IRC5 (what a learning curve that is!!!) and needless to say, the default platform position is raised!!!

Thank you.

Where do I put this? RobData?

I see it needs to be connected to power on, I'll work that out I'm sure!

So, taken from the technical rapid manual:

Basic examples of the instruction WZLimJointDef are illustrated below.

Example 1

VAR wzstationary work_limit;

...

PROC power_on()

VAR shapedata joint_space;

CONST jointtarget low_pos:= [ [ -90, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9],

[ -1000, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9]];

CONST jointtarget high_pos := [ [ 90, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9,9E9, 9E9],

[ 9E9, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9, 9E9] ];

...

WZLimJointDef \Outside, joint_space, low_pos, high_pos;

WZLimSup \Stat, work_limit, joint_space;

ENDPROC

Do I need to do VAR wzstationary for each axis 1 grouping?

VAR wzstationary work_limit_axis1_88to92;

VAR wzstationary work_limit_axis1_84to87;

VAR wzstationary work_limit_axis1_80to83;

Do I then need

VAR shapedata joint_space_axis1;

VAR shapedata joint_space_axis2;

VAR shapedata joint_space_axis3;

I can't find an example of multiple axis combinations, thats what I don't quite get yet!

ok, I have worldzones, not safezone.

If use something like WZLimJointDef, is that just going to work when the rapid program is running, or will it work when jogging as well?

Hi guys. Irb1400 on irc5 controller.

The robot is mounted on a hydraulic lifting platform, not configured as an external axis.

My issue is axis joint limits. When platform is lowered down and robot is facing directly forward/away from platform, the arm is restricted from leaning back by the platform hydraulic cylinder behind. But as axis 1 progressively rotates, so the arm can move back a bit more. When it is nearly side on, it can move back fully unrestricted.

I know I can limit axis 2 joint limit in moc file, but can I do a combination? Using theoretical numbers as I'm not at the robot currently.... I would like to do something like:

If axis 1 is between 88 to 92 degrees, axis 2 is limited to 90 degrees - arm vertical for example.

If axis 1 is between 84 to 87 degrees, axis 2 is limited to 95 degrees -ie arm can lean backwards a little bit.

If axis 1 is between 80 to 83 degrees, axis 2 is limited to 100 degrees- ie arm can lean backwards a bit more.

I know of safe zones, but that is just tcp based. I have seen a thread on configuring this in rapid (can't find it now doh!), but I want it "hard wired" so to speak so we can't jog past the limit.

Is it possible to configure this in the moc file?

Or any other ideas?

Thanks guys