Hainbuch clamping technology helps with automated gripper changes
The effectiveness of a robotic cell used for the automated production of small series is largely dependent on several preconditions.
- Being able to switch unmanned from one production series to the next places certain demands on the overall configuration.
- In order to automatically process small batches one after the other, it is minimally necessary for both the machine and the robotic cell to be able to adapt to the geometry of the different products.
- On the robot side, this can be realized by a gripper change or a servo gripper. However, the robot cell can also play a role in flexibly adapting the machine tool and its fixture system.
- For CNC lathes, one way to do this is to allow the robot to change the jaws of a chuck or even the entire chuck. However, it can also be done by changing collets in a Hainbuch collet chuck. Cellro has long had this functionality available in both the hardware and software of its various robotic cells.
Fixture Exchange and Collet Exchange
Cellro’s robotic loading systems are expandable with additional functionality to create even more flexibility in your automation process. Fixture Exchange en Collet Exchange are two modules that allow you to process products of different sizes in succession, automated and unmanned. Normally, you are limited to machining workpieces that fit into the CNC fixtures you currently have in your machine. With Fixture Exchange and Collet Exchange, you can automatically swap in those. Thus, you are not bound to certain dimensions in your automation process.
Especially here, our customers and also Cellro as automation specialist for the machining industry, are greatly helped by the flexible collet technology from Hainbuch. The Hainbuch collets (Collets) for CNC lathes and CNC clamps (Fixtures) for CNC milling machines, are specially designed for lightning fast and easy changing of grippers.
Hainbuch and Cellro: 1 + 1 = 3
With Xcelerate and Elevate, it is possible to automatically load one or more series with similar workpieces. With Collet Exchange and Fixture Exchange, you are able to change Hainbuch’s machine clamp or collet without operator intervention. As a result, the size of the machine clamp or the diameter of the collet no longer determines which workpieces you can or cannot machine automatically. You can thus have your CNC machines unmanned to finish various product series where the workpieces vary greatly in size.
A good practical example
Flowserve is a global supplier of industrial pumps, valves and seals for the oil, gas, chemical and water management industries. The company deployed Elevate for a Mazak multitask machine in combination with the Collet Exchange feature. Flowserve produces small series with a wide variety of parts for its own products. A key requirement for their automation was the ability to produce small series of different products of various diameters in sequence, without operator intervention. In cooperation with Cellro, the company has brilliantly succeeded in this aim.
Put your automation problem to Cellro
Would you like to know more about the possibilities of automating the production of smaller series with your existing CNC machines equipped with the Hainbuch clamping technology? If so, please contact us.