When Texol Technical Solutions plc based in Dundee, Scotland first learnt about Haeger’s Robotic Insertion press cell on the Haeger stand at Euroblech 2004 in Hanover, they quickly realised it could reduce the labour content and automate the process of applying M4 and M6 self clinch nuts, studs and stand-offs to very large panels used to make control cabinet casings.
Clive
Meir from Shear-Form Machine Tools Ltd, the Coventry based sheet metal and plate
working machinery supplier and Haeger’s sole representative in the UK was
introduced to Douglas Guild, Texol’s Engineering Manager with his team of
Engineers and soon arrangements were made to take them to see a working cell in
Germany.
Texol Engineers were impressed with what they saw and were convinced this was the way to proceed, so the decision was made to make a substantial investment in a cell, the first of its kind in the UK, comprising a Haeger 824 ‘OneTouch’ insertion press using a 50kg Motorman UP50N 6-axis industrial robot with a 2,046mm reach and NX100 control system.
Texol Technical Solutions is a manufacturing and service company offering a range of engineering and manufacturing services, including metal fabrication, electronic and mechanical assembly, box build and design services producing OEM sub contract parts, in-house designed Gas generation equipment and Midge/Mosquito catching machines. Approximately 25% of all production goes to a growing export market, including Scandinavia and the Far East.
Texol’s Doug Guild explained: “As a company, we maintain an aggressive policy of searching out and keeping abreast of the latest technological innovations available to aid our production. Over the last 6 years we have invested over £4m in technology, mainly upgrading our laser and punch cutting and bending capabilities. The purchase of this cell has almost eliminated the handling and labour content of what was a very manual operation requiring two operators to handle parts due to their bulk. The largest panel we currently have is 1,850mm x 750mm x 1,5mm thick and weighs in at 21kg, whilst the smallest is 300mm x 300mm x 2,5mm thick. The material we are handling is 1.5mm galvanized steel, 1.5mm CRS CR4 (mild steel) and 2.5mm Zintec.
For the largest panel our cycle time has been reduced from 6 minutes with two operators (12 minutes labour) to around 4.5 minutes.”
The cell is loaded, unloaded and operated by one person. Each panel is picked up by the Motoman robot using adjustable grippers, which are aligned to meet each individual panel size. The selected panel is passed through a sensor to determine the material thickness and then placed on a reference table, once correctly aligned. The robot, which has a +/- 0.07mm repetitive accuracy, takes up the panel and then, depending upon the size and material thickness, up to 56 nuts, studs and stand offs in various lengths are inserted using the Haeger 834 ‘OneTouch’ insertion press. When the insertion operation is complete, the panels are stacked ready for onward production.
Haeger’s Insertion Logic Software with the press’s fast RAM speed can install up to four different fastener types in one part handling, which Doug Guild says has greatly helped to improve the productivity although at the moment they only have one application which uses all four. As he said: “Our productivity in some instances has improved by as much as 100% and we are not working the cell to its maximum capability. We are looking at applying other production to this cell within the capacity boundaries of the equipment. The dual Modular Autofeed System and 4-station automatic upper and lower tool change system is ideal for one time handling of panels with multiple types of fasteners. The ability to quickly and easily switch from one fastener to another improves productivity.”
63kN (9.8 tons) of ram force and the 600mm (24”) deep throat allows the press to handle Texol’s large panel sizes. The Press is fully hydraulic with PLC controls and has 4 modular Autofeed system feeding units allowing Texol to change fastener sizes and types in about 5 minutes. The automatic 4-station upper and lower tool indexing system, positive stop cylinder, tooling protection system, batch counter and dwell timer are standard features of this press.
The InsertionLogic™ software with on board program storage, built in menu structure and help functions, allow the operator to select the fastener type he/she requires by type, manufacturer and size as well as the panel material being used. With this information the software sets the ram force automatically.
Help screens, which Doug Guild says are very simple to understand and operate, provide the operator with diagnostics on all the systems functions and an operator manual built into the software makes problem and fault solving easy. The training of each operator for each shift took about one week
Doug continued: “Texol has been very happy with the procurement, implementation and operation of this cell and considers the investment worthwhile. The Motorman robot handles all our panel sizes perfectly, whilst the quality of the insertions from the Haeger press is what we expected and demanded.”