Plastic injection moulded parts often have to be machined or assembled with other components and we have the expertise, flexibility and facilities to add the finishing touches and sub-assembly as desired. These activities can range from packing products into customer branded packaging to multi-component assembly.
One recent example was a new customer who wanted new tooling and the plastic parts manufactured and assembled in the UK. We set about designing the new tooling using our design for manufacture expertise and the new 9.2 tonne tool is now used in one of our larger machines, our 1500tonne Engel to be precise.
Once the tool was up and running our automation team set about designing and creating a solution for the sub-assembly. The challenge was to place two M8 inserts onto the part and heat stake them until sub-flush, all within 15 seconds. A bowl feeder was modified with 3D-printed parts to split the insert into two streams. As the robot delivers the part, a vertical actuator knocks the top, causing the inserts to engage. With the inserts in place, the robot transports the part to the in-house developed automatic heat-staker. The heat staking machine measures the temperature of the part and adjusts the motion parameters accordingly. A second cobot picks up the completed part and deposits it on a conveyor belt ready for packing. We are increasing the use of cobots for a few reasons. Firstly, to become more efficient; secondly, to improve quality; and thirdly, to eliminate the mundane tasks some of our colleagues perform.
As a manufacturer, we have always relied on customised manufacturing aids and being an early adopter of 3D printing technology we readily reaped the gains of time and cost savings by printing end-of-arm tooling, now using our Fortus 380 CF 3D printer. Furthermore, design flexibility allows us to integrate hinges, gripper mechanisms, air channels, wire runs, mounts for sensors and other functions. Add to this rapid iteration at a fraction of the cost and time compared to machining EOATs from metal, it is easy to see how we have evolved from jigs and fixtures to printing tools for robotic automation.
We can provide advice and quotes on anything from a simple sketch to a 3D computer model. Most drawing formats can be handled although we find STEP, Parasolid and DXF translate most successfully.
