Posts by Reintz

The program first makes a grid out of position variables, similar to the one in the second picture. This grid is then used to write the characters. For example nr 5 would be written

MOVL LP003
ARCON
MOVL LP001
MOVL LP007
MOVL LP008
MOVC LP008
MOVC LP012
MOVC LP014
MOVL LP014
MOVL LP013
ARCOF

All the characters are described in the program in such way. Selecting the needed character is done with JUMP and LABLE instructions.
To move from one character to next SFTON instruction is used to shift in the desired direction. This shifts the whole grid to a new position.

The text is taken from a string variable, LEN instruction is used to get the total number of characters in the text, MID$ instruction is used to but each character into it's own string variable.

The whole thing is written into a loop that runs as long as the character counter reaches the total number of characters.

Yes. This was also the first thing that I thought of.

Hello

I'm writing program in MotoSim for a cell that is being delivered. It's a twin YRC1000 cell. R1 is a welding robot (Tool 1), R2 is a handling robot with a gripper (Tool 2).

I need the R2 to give it's position in an R2 job and then later in R1 job I want the welding robot to move to that position previously given by R2.

As I understand using the following instructions in the R2 job should give me that position...

GETS PX000 $PX000 - get current position in pulse
CNVRT PX000 PX000 BF TL#(1) - convert that position to Base Frame for Tool1 (torch)

But moving to that P000 position afterwards with R1 doesn't take it to correct location.
What am I doing wrong?
I could do it so R2 job has...

GETS PX000 $PX000 - get current position in pulse
CNVRT PX000 PX000 BF TL#(2) - convert that position to Base Frame for Tool2 (gripper)

That actually gives me the correct position in Base Frame and then in R1 job I could...

GETS PX001 $PX000 - get current position in pulse
CNVRT PX001 PX001 BF TL#(1) - convert that position to Base Frame for Tool1 (torch).
SUB P001 P001

This is just to get the variable to be in Base Frame and for the correct Tool.

...and then i could use GETE and SETE instruction to pick the individual values from P000 and put them into P001. This way moving R1 to P001 does take it to correct position, but for me this does not seem a good way to do it.

Any suggestions?

Interesting. I'm using a lot of wire searches and only cut it once before the searches. Never used a wire brake. Why would one need to cut the wire multiple times when not using wire brake?

If it's because the stick-out changes too much during searching then using a step thinner spiral liner than the wire calls for helps a lot.

Quote from Fly Typhoon

Thanks for the reply I'm trying to learn a new function for touch detection For welding using srch options

I downloaded the manual which was in English, unfortunately I couldn't find it in Italian and I'm having a bit of difficulty

Usually the searching is done with separate search jobs (or machros) that give shift values that you can then use with SFTON instruction to shift your weld line/positions.

If you're trying to see if RIN works on your robot, then insert a MOVL line with slow speed into a job and add the SRCH extension to it (page 17 in the manual). Now run the line (Inter lock + test start is fine) and if everything works correctly then the robot should stop when the welding wire is grounded to the workpiece.

It's not meant to work that way.

What are you trying to do with it - are you trying to use it to position you search points correctly? If so then you can activate power sorce's touch sensing output and read it's input signal for when contact is made. But if you're using searches with reference positions, then it's easier to just program the search, run through it once and use parallel shift instruction with the values from that search result to shift the reference positions into place.

You want to get the current time? As far as I know that's not possible on controller level.

When I made a product time measuring solution on program level (stores product name together with weldtime + downtime into a S-variable) I was asked if I can add date and time data, but I could not find a way without using external data.

A touch sensing search touches the surface of a part from a programmed position, registers the point of contact and from that contact position it subtracts the position where it was supposed to make contact (defined by a corresponding reference point) resulting in a value that describes how much that surface has moved compared to where it was originally programmed to be. That value (stored in a position variable) can then be used to move one or multiple poisitions in a program using SHFTON Pxxx instruction. All the positions after SHTON Pxxx get shifted by the ammount defined in the P variable used with that SFTON command. To use values from another P-variable you just insert a new SFTON Pxxx instruction in front of the positions you want to shift with that P-variable. To stop shifting you use SFTOF instruction.

95devils, in your example you forgot MOVL LP002, so it actually never goes down.

If you want to move down using tool frame, then...

GETS LPX000 $PX000 - to get the current position in pulse
CNVRT LPX001 LPX000 TF - convert it to LP001 in TF
SUB LP001 LP001 - clear the values of LP001
SETE LP001 (3) xxx - set the Z-value of how much it goes down in tool frame (it's in micrometers)
SFTON LP001 TF - turn on the shift that actually makes it go down
MOVL LP000 V=xxx - move to the position

This way the position is the same, but shift in tool frames handles the moving down part. The LP001 doesn't actually have to be in tool frame, it just can't be in pulse. If you'd use...

GETS LPX000 $PX001
SET LPX001 LPX000

... for the first two lines it would work the same way because the TF at the end of SFTON instruction is what makes it shift in tool frame and not whatever frame the variable is in.

When you want to move back up...

SFTOF
MOVL LP000 V=xxx

Wire feed speed must be set very low for this to even remotely work, otherwise by the time it stops feeding the wire it is already pushed hard against the surface and when the robot moves away from that position the wire under tension moves further out resulting in more stick out. I've tried this method ages ago, it's not constant enough. Wire cutter is the way to go. If you need to have the wire cut in different lengths then you can use a variable combined with a tool frame shift in the cutter to get the desired length.

Quote from JacksonStorm

Here EX021 thats equal to EX00021=33249

I'm guessing you are reading that from job header. In reality when you run SET LEX001 EX021 instruction LEX001 will get whatever value EX021 has at the time of running the instruction. The fact that job file has "EX00021=33249" only shows you that EX021 value was 33249 at the moment when the job backup was taken. Also, when you should load that backup job into the controller, EX021 value will get overwritten with that value indicated in the job file header.

Just go to Variables -> EX and you can see the actual value under EX021.

GETE LD001 LEX001 (1) - Get element No.1 from LEX001 and put it into LD001. If you have a single axis station, you only have one element under LEX and EX variables. With a dual axis station, you'd have two. If you were to use GETE for a P-variable, then there's 6 elements for example. If the P-variable has pulse values stored in it, then the elements are S, L, U, R, B, T (each axis pulse value) and if the P-variable has values in one of the frames, then the elements are X, Y, Z, Rx, Ry, Rz.

SETE is Set element and does the opposite of GETE. It also has the element number in it.

Is it even possible to use RIN with MOVJ? I've only seen the RIN extension on MOVL, though I've had situations where I needed to use it with MOVJ.

Hello

I have robot position stored in a P-variable. It's in Base Frame.

I have a second P-variable that holds the shift ammount, also in Base Frame.

Now instead of using shift and moving to the position, I need to combine the two so that the shift ammount would be added to the P-variable holding the position data.

Reading the manual it seems that MULMAT would be the correct instruction to use. Manual states:

Pnew=P3d × Pold
Pnew: Target position after a three-dimensional shift
P3d: Three-dimensional shift amount
Pold: Taught position

Unlike using ADD instruction MULMAT will add the angle values correctly, but not the XYZ values. ADD instruction on the other hand adds the XYZ values correctly, but the angle values are messed up.

I see that I can use ADD instruction for XYZ and MULMAT for Rx, Ry and Rz and then combine them, but I suspect theres a better way. Is there?

You really don't need to zero your searches and the associated weld points to correct a weld point that is being held by a shift. You activate the corresponding shift and move to the weld point you want to correct and then UTILITY -> PARALLEL SHIFT JOB.

From under STEP SECTION you set the range of steps you want to modify. (Mind you that step and line numbers are not the same - you can toggle step numbers visible/not visible from job window DISPLAY -> ENABLE STEP NO.)

Set the COORDINATES to BASE and then open TEACH SETTING. There you have two columns - press MODIFY + ENTER on the left column to set the current position, then move the robot to the desired position, move to the right column and press MODIFY + ENTER there. Then press EXECUTE. This will take you back to PARALLEL SHIFT window with the SHIFT VALUEs calculated from the two positions under TEACH SETTING. Now press EXECUTE and you're done.

This way you can reposition a whole weld back into place if it's out of place as a whole by setting the corresponding step numbers.

A program running in the background is system job. It's a paid option.

Thread

System jobs

I want to know more about system job. What they are used for? And in which manual can I find informations about them? Can someone attach this manual?

krzych

March 18, 2014 at 1:13 AM

Hi.

Yes, you can use SRCH extension on a MOVL/SMOVL line to measure a groove.

First you make a move towards one side of the groove using SRCH extension. Right after contact, you use GETS instruction to store current position. Convert the P-variable containing that current position into a suitable frame. Now repeat the same on the other side, but use a different P-variable.

Now you can use GETE instructions to put the desired axis values from the two P-variables into D/LD variables and using SUB instruction you can calculate the width of the groove.

So 9 lines including the movements.

WVADJ changes robot moving speed quite alot, so depending on your application you might find that you're better off changing the speed and amplitude yourself depending on the groove size. I've used IF instruction combined with ELSEIF to use a suitable amplitude and welding speed. You can define the amplitudes and speeds by a variable or use SPEED instruction with different speed values and have the weld movements without speed defined so that the robot would use the speed from the SPEED instruction.

I've even greated a search that searches and calculates the radius of a square tube in order to weld it with a suitable speed and weaving parameters.

What do you have after P5? With only those points, it should not make a straight line between P4 ja P5. But if theres another circle with MOVCs after P5 and the two circles form a figure 8, then it will do a straight line from P4 to P5 unless you put a MOVL in between the two circles. The MOVL can be stored at the exact same position as the end point of the first circle (P5) and the starting point of the second circle so there would be MOVC, MOVL, MOVC stored at the same position.

So in this example - if these points are all MOVCs, then it will make a straight line from P4 to P5, because if there are more than 3 MOVC points in a row, the robot will consider the current position + the next 2 MOVC positions when calculating it's path. But P4 together with P5 and P6 form a straight line. Now when the robot reaches P5 then in considers that and the following 2 MOVC positions and because those don't form a straight line, it will continiue to make a circle.

Now to make a figure 8, one has to put MOVC, MOVL and another MOVC into the P5 position, that will make the robot not consider P4, P5 and P6 to be a straight line.

When you save a job to external memory the values of those global position variables that are used in that job get stored in the .jbi file. But the values are whatever they are at the time on saving (not from when you last ran that job). So the values in the job backup file may have nothing to do with that specific job.

Use global variables wherever you want. Just keep in mind that when using the same variables in different jobs (which is totaly ok) you need to think of them as something not permanent. So before each time you use the variable in a job something should define it's value (SET instruction, touch sence etc).

BTW when you load a backup job from external memory the position variable values in the controller will be overwritten with whatever values the backup file has, so be careful when you load a backup. Choose a time when it's ok to overwrite position variable values.

Thread

Programs becoming corrupted after transferring from USB

We have a large library of weld programs for large programs that have 2-3 hour run times.

Since we are a high mix low volume facility, we have more programs than the teach pendant can retain. To work around this we move programs onto USBs back and forth from the pendant whenever required.

Sometimes when we transfer the program back into the pendant from the USB, the positioner/skyhook positional values associated with the weld lines only become affected. For example the original set point may be…

ClassyBanana

November 29, 2022 at 7:48 PM

In the original post you said "positional values associated with the weld lines only become affected" - are these positional values defined by position variables?

Position variable values that are used in a JOB are stored in the jbi file when jbi file is being saved. The value of each position variable that gets stored in the jbi file while saving will be the value it is at the time of saving and not what it was the last time you ran that job. So for example if you run JOB1 and it uses P001 variable with whatever values and after that you run JOB2 that also uses P001 but with some other values and you then save JOB1 then the saved JOB1.jbi file will have the P001 values from the JOB2 because these were the values in P001 at the time of saving.

Now when you load a job into the controller and the jbi file has position variable values stored in it, they will be overwritten in the controller! What's why I never upload a job file into the controller while the robot is operating because I use a lot of touch sensing, the values are stored in position variables and uploading a job will overwrite these position variable values. I learnt that the hard way - years ago I uploaded a job into a controller that was operating. The job I uploaded was not the one that was running at the time but the robot collided with the workpiece because a position variable got overwritten.

There is a way to avoid this - when you use a position variable in a job with indirect addressing. So instead of writing SFTON P001 you write SFTON [P1]. That way the position variable values will not be stored in the jbi file and thus they will not be overwritten in the controller when loading that job from external memory.