| Starting point / Task definition |
The main area of application for laser robots lies in the cutting of plastic covering parts for cars, for the interior and the exterior, such as pillar covers, door modules, trunk linings and cover rails. In this area laser robots can cut almost all plastic compounds, such as PP, PE, ABS PC, plexiglas or TPO film, as well as any textiles, with the best cutting quality and high traversing speed.
In the manufacture of roof drip moldings at Scherer + Trier, the objective was to achieve an increase in quality and speed of the cutting tasks used in production by transferring to a laser cutter. Furthermore, the subsequent gluing of the moldings with a 3M tape was also to be carried out fully automatically in the same cycle period. When selecting the cutting robot, Scherer + Trier decided on a ROBOCUT K300, a product developed by the ROBOT-TECHNOLOGY company, which is based on the main axes of a standard industrial robot.
The integration of the CO2 laser is carried out via an inherently stable laser housing with axis 4 and axis 5 following, the latter replacing the standard wrist axes of the jointed-arm robot. Through this special design many advantages result in practical application.
The configuration of the laser supplements the existing axes so that the robot can be configured in a neutrally balanced state. In this manner high accelerations and speeds can be reached. The axes 4 and 5 of the cutting robot are of infinitely rotating design, thereby avoiding time losses for reverse rotations of the axes after cutting the components and eliminating the need to set down the components during cutting. In this way extremely short cycle times can be achieved. Furthermore, this feature enables an unprecedented degree of component accessibility to be reached.
For the avoidance of interference contours beyond the axes, the robot is equipped with an integrated process gas supply. The head axes are specially designed for laser technology, so that high reorientation speeds and accuracies can be realized. Due to the chosen system concept, only four deflecting mirrors are required, which makes adjustment easier and results in reduced mirror-related power loss. |
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| Implementation / Solution |
 | | Robot equipped with laser cuts openings fully automatically for roofrack mounts in roof drip moldings |  |
The turntable transports the four drip rails to the ROBOCUT K300, which cuts the openings in them for the roofrack mounts in a short cycle time. When the cutting is completed, the parts are transported by the turntable and a linear unit to the flame machining station.
Subsequently a KR 45 KUKA jointed arm robot takes the drip rails from the flame machining station and applies 3M tape. The glued rails are then deposited by the six-axis robot on an intermediate support.
A further KUKA KR 45 removes the drip rails from the intermediate support and adds handling grips. It then places the finished parts onto a conveyor. |
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| System components / Scope of supply |
| ROBOT-TECHNOLOGY was involved with the system design from a very early stage in the planning. The assignment was for complete automation of the manufacturing process - beginning with the removal of the parts from the injection molding machine. Included in the scope of supply was a ROBOCUT K300, a turntable, two KUKA KR 45 6-axis robots with special grippers for the handling of the drip rails at the taping station and for the application of the handling grips. In addition, the protective housing, the sprue belt and the conveyor belt were also supplied. |
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