Motoman's solution resulted in consistent welds, uniformity from frame to frame, increased production capacity, and less reliance on skilled welders for high volume production.
Project Challenges
- Increase manufacturing capacity to 50-60 frames per day.
- Reduce dependency on a small number of skilled manual welders.
- Make 56 cosmetically perfect welds per frame on 3.175 mm (.125") mild steel.
- Achieve cycle time of 15-20 minutes per weld cycle.
Motoman Robotics Solution
- Motoman Robotics provided two identical ArcWorld 6016HD solutions. Each system includes:
- Motoman SK16 robot with MRC controller
- MRM-500 heavy-duty headstock/tailstock (HS/TS) positioner with 3 m (118") between HS/TS and weight capacity of 113.4 kg (250 lbs) per side (226.8 kg / 500 lbs total)
- Kobelco LS350 power source with welding interface
- Tregaskiss Torch 400-amp, air-cooled with shock sensor
- Standard start-up kit with .035" wire
- Motoman 200-V High-Speed Touch Sensing
- Operator station
- Motoman XTC Torch cleaner with anti-splatter on 1,829 mm (72") stand
- Motoman wire cutter
- Programming platform 3.24 m L x .62 m W x .61 m H (127.6" x 24.4" x 24") with two sets of steps
- Common base for MRC and welding power source
- Motoman Toolsight® (torch alignment program)
- Integrated work cell protection, including safety fence, mats, and one dual-interlocked gate
Fixtures/Tooling Details
The customer provided simple mechanical fixtures that were integrated into the robot system at Motoman. Frames are tack-welded together prior to being manually loaded onto the positioner fixtures by an operator. Safety features inherent to the ArcWorld 6016-HD system allows the operator to unload/load one side of the positioner while the SK16 robot is welding on the other. Touch-sensing is used to compensate for minor variances in part fit-up. Customer is making ongoing upstream enhancements to improve fit-up and reduce the amount of touch-sensing required.
Ref: ACS-028