Optimizing Automated Material Removal

Henry Kistenmacher - Team Lead CoLab, SCHUNK Intec Inc

The range of use cases that fall under the topic robotic material removal is broad. Deburring, grinding, and finishing are the three main clusters of material removal. The industries, materials, manufacturing processes, and object geometries are more diverse than many people realize. From plastic injection molded parts to cast aluminum, machined metal parts, or the wood and furniture industry. As diverse as the application areas are, so are the process parameters that define the result of the machining. This presentation shows the selection of the right consumable-deburring tool combination based on common examples from real applications. Manual material removal is characterized by flexibility and sensitivity but also by long processing times, unsteady quality, and poor ergonomics. Machining in a CNC machine, on the other hand, is precise, fast, and provides consistent quality. However, this can be very time-consuming and expensive due to the high hourly rate of the machine. Robotic material removal is a cheaper alternative that is fast, highly flexible, and most importantly, delivers consistent quality. There are many factors that influence the outcome of Robotic Material Removal processes. The selection of the right spindle is just as important as the choice of consumables. These two things go hand in hand and define each other. Which consumable and spindle are used depends, for example, on the material and shape of the burr. Whether hard tool or brush, grinding wheel or polishing wheel, these parameters have an influence on the shape, size, and surface quality:

• Spindle power
• Speed of rotation
• Air direction of the tool
• Contact pressure
• Feed rate
• Deburring strategy

This presentation will show how to choose the right consumable based on the application. How the consumables define the spindle type and which parameter adjustments affect the result. Based on a study in which the parameters are adjusted individually, the exact effects of the individual parameters on the results, such as chamfer width or surface quality, are shown, and how the best results can be achieved. Insights and procedures of this study are shown and compared with real use cases.

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