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IF DEBURRING WERE A WAR I AM
GIVING YOU THE WEAPON TO WIN IT!
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Deburring a piece with an abrasive belt is really complicated, in fact, for this operation it is necessary to have an abrasive loop-closed belt held between two wheels: the front one is used for deburring, the rear one for the belt return.
Or you choose a specialised operator who is able to apply the right manual strength and is precise so that when the processing starts there are no faults and ends at the right time with the right strength and correct speed . It takes years to teach him the job…
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But there is a problem!
Your operator is not constant, reliable and accurate.
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So your answer to this inefficiency was investing in robotic machines. It is very likely that you built them yourself (with the idea of saving), or you bought them from my competitors (with the idea of saving) selling the robot to pack mineral water to welding robots.
It seems that your robot does the job at best but the situation is worse than you think!
Indeed, there are many small problems that do not allow you being efficient:
- The robot creates a lot of waste: if the robot picks up a piece incorrectly, deburring is incorrect and the piece goes into the waste. Or if the piece has burrs slightly higher, the robot is unable to deburr.
- Production constancy: every time the piece has burrs slightly higher than normal, the belt breaks and you are forced to stop production and replace it.
- Uncertain production costs: if a belt breaks there is a risk to damage the contact wheel. If the wheel is damaged it needs to be replaced, losing time and money.
- Production Quality: all pieces are slightly different. Each piece is different from one another and this difference can be noticed on the piece after deburring.
- Running time: your cycle time is long. You do not have enough tools to reduce or do not have enough power on the mandrel or it collides with the engine unit.
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If you are a keen entrepreneur, you CANNOT
deny all these problems and you need to move fast.
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Today, there are deburring machines with units that allow making a difference and I know that some that are right for you.
Due to my experience and support to many international companies, I have developed grinding units with the following characteristics:
- more grinding groups on the same unit
- motorised machining mandrel (possibility of use for any belt and wheel)
- mandrel with postponed motor
- active compensation adjustable from the robot program
- possibility of using free belt processing
- belt wear recovery software wear tape
- fast reverse system group if the belt is broken
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More grinding groups on the same unit
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When carrying out a deburring operation, it is better to have more types of contact wheels and belts, this way you can reduce cycle time and improve the quality and reliability of the process.
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But there is a problem…
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If you consider the typical hand unit and place it in front of the robot, to have more work units, your machine becomes bigger. What I thought to improve this aspect is superimpose 2 (or 3) grinding groups, in which the cycle time is reduced and the machine continues to be small. Result: more flexibility, small spaces, fast cycle… more margin for you.
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Motorised processing mandrel
(possibility of using any belt and wheel)
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Whenever I talk to a layman, I hear: “Too many solutions increase the price of the machine, why don’t you mount a return wheel directly on the engine? You save components and work!”
Many of my competitors do this. They offer a unit with the engine that moves the belt speed onto the rear wheel. Everything works as long as the working wheels are of a diameter between 250 and 350 mm and the belts have a width between 80 and 120 mm.
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But there is a big problem…
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How much money do you lose with a wrong machine?
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What do you do when you need a wheel that is out of this range?
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What do you do when you have no choice but to use a very narrow belt?
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Clearly, if your machine does not allow this, you need to invent something to adapt the process to the machine you have. Perhaps to be able to work you need to slow down the process, you need to change the belts more often … and your margin reduces day by day.
What I thought to improve this situation is: when deburring, you often need a small contact wheel small or a narrow belt, or a very wide belt.
The needs are many and varied and there are no limits with a motorised processing wheel, you can use the most suited tool. The tool that makes you reduce the cycle time and increase your margins.
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Spindle with postponed motorisation
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When you are deburring, you need a lot of space around the wheel. I have seen machines on the market with indirect engines (the wheel directly coupled to the engine) with elongated shafts.
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But there is a problem…
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The engine directly attached to the mandrel makes the unit very cumbersome, especially if you place a long shaft to move it away from the work area. Besides, with such a long shaft you so not solve the problem and you are always trying to avoid the engine with the robots.
So we designed a compact mandrel to maintain the wheel and we deferred the engine, with the advantage of reducing cycle time and making programming easier: all this makes you save time and money.
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Active compensation adjustable from the robot program
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Each piece is unique in its own way. Each one differs from another for some small details but you need constant quality, you have to remove the burr without damaging the piece. With the machines of my competitors you need to use a soft wheel and work finely with the robot programming.
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It works, but you’re putting the head in the noose!
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You’re losing time every day,
time you will NEVER recover.
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Your time cycle gets longer, your programmer should be skilled, precise and must be able to program for hours, thus raising the fixed and production costs … in short an ordeal.
We created an active compensation system: you set the workforce, then move the robot by pressing slightly as it comes and the unit follows the contours of your piece thanks to the power you set. At the same time, you can use hard wheels (thus more aggressive and fast when deburring), reducing programming time and halving the time.
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Possibility of using free belt processing
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So many times you need to connect round surfaces and you can do it on the contact wheel.
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But there is a problem…
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Your cycle time becomes longer and
the programming time is long.
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With our grinding units, you can mount a support to use an idle wheel and have a length of free tape, managing to contain the processing times and facilitate programming.
With a simple solution you reduce the cycle time by 20% and increases your profitability.
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Tape wear recovery software
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On average a deburring belt costs €10. You replace a belt when the quality of the piece is no longer compliant by hand or with machines of my competitors. You are so used to this and maybe the operator changing the belt has no idea of the total cost of the actual belt.
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But there is a problem!
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Your deburring costs are uncertain: you never know how much you will be spending for materials at the end of the month.
So I devised a new method, creating a software that allows increasing the belt’s life by 30% compared to its use today.
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Just think:
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How much would you save if you had your own machine?
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The software allows compensating the wear by increasing speed and work pressure linearly and the quality of the pieces is always constant even if the tape is slowly wearing out.
At the end of the month, this software makes the difference.
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Fast reverse system for the group
in case the belt is broken
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When using abrasive belts, there is a chance that they break. The belts are pieces of cloth glued to create a closed loop, and if the tape is faulty, it may break. If it breaks while working, the robot has to work directly on the contact wheel, risking to ruin so it needs replacing.
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Maybe you have the wheel ready in stock,
or your operator is very fast.
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But the situation is more worse than you think!
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You are unable to count the production costs because you have inefficiencies and downtime, killing your margins considerably.
We have found the solution. If a belt breaks, the wheels retract automatically and the machine ends the cycle without breaking anything. Just before, an anomaly will appear on the operator’s panel: the machine cycle ends, you replace the belt in 2 minutes and restart.
A solution that may seem marginal but that gives you a great hand with efficiency.
As you see I have given you an overview of what I can offer.
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Piercarlo Bonomi
The Main Expert in Robotic Cutting and Deburring Machines
