Rotational Molded Plastic Parts Drilling and Cutting

Alliance Automation, LLC was asked by a customer to design and build a robot system that accomplished both cutting and drilling of various plastic roto-molded parts used in the commercial, construction, agricultural, industrial, materials handling, marine, recreational vehicle and toy manufacturing industries.

This system needed to be flexible with multiple tools and adaptable fixturing.

Alliance Automation began by first making sure that router cutting was the correct process for the customer.  The customer provided sample parts for Alliance to trial on a demo robot cell.  Results below.

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Once the process was proven, Alliance Automation was provided CAD of the smallest and largest parts to do a reach study.  Once the reach study was done, it was determined that a single invert mount robot could reach all of the parts easily.

This system utilized a single Yaskawa Motoman GP25 robot with YRC1000 controller and a 24,000 rpm high power spindle with automatic tool change (ATC).

FormCut® robot software is used for easily programming different shapes such as Circles, Slots, Squares, Rectangles and more.  This software is similar to shape generation or Jetware for Fanuc.  

Up to eight (8) different tools are available.  A pre-programmed tool change routine with a broken bit check via laser sensor make it easy for users to program.  

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In order to accommodate a large variety of parts, Alliance Automation helped the customer with fixture design and incorporated part presence sensors and an RFID tag reader into the table.  An RFID tag was embedded into each part fixture.  The tags were each programmed with a unique identifier which was read by the reader and called up the appropriate robot program to run that part.  This feature removes the need for operator interface with the HMI screen and prevents robot crashes from wrong model number selection.

Light curtains and laser floor scanners protect the operators from the robot.  Tinted polycarbonate panels surround the robot cell for further protection.  

This is an example of another successful project by Alliance Automation.

Have a robot router or drilling application?  Contact us for more information.