Servo-driven welding opens door on productivity
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LC Automation product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Feb 18, 2008
Fern Engineering Systems has designed a bespoke self-contained robot welding cell for Cell Security including a Mitsubishi FX3U PLC, MR-J3 Servo and E1000 Series HMI.
Fern Engineering Systems is a leading supplier of bespoke automation and welding systems based near Blackburn in the North West of England.
Working together with experts from LC Automation, the company recently designed and built an innovative new welding machine for Cell Security in Bolton, Lancashire.
Cell Security supplies welded cell doors for prisons, police stations and a range of other security applications worldwide.
Business is good, but the company has one major problem; in most situations it takes only 8 hours to construct a cell, whereas it can take 10 hours for Cell Security to construct and weld each cell door by hand.
This leads to time delays because it isn't really practical for Cell Security to hold large stocks of very heavy doors.
Another major issue is the large number of different customers that have completely different door specifications.
In fact, Cell Security produces over 100 standard door types and sizes, and that doesn't include special custom sizes and designs.
This makes automated production very difficult, because the machines need to be as flexible and easy to setup or change as working by hand.
Cell Security approached Fern Engineering Systems to design and build a robotic welding machine that would produce doors quickly, but in a small space that would fit into its compact workshop.
After an initial visit, meeting and consultation period, Fern Engineering Systems designed a totally bespoke, self contained robot cell including a Mitsubishi FX3U PLC, MR-J3 Servo and E1000 Series HMI.
Fern showed Cell Security what the machine would look like, what it would do and how long it would take to build - which was only eleven and a half weeks from the initial call to the robot cell being delivered on site.
Although a smaller servo would have done the job, Fern Engineering Services and LC Automation Servo Specialist Adrian Mincher calculated that the 250kg robot would be too heavy to guarantee the required accuracy.
Specifying a 1kW Mitsubishi servo, attached to a ceiling mounted linear track gives an overall accuracy of just 0.02mm - which is even better than welding by hand.
The machine also includes a host of high-spec features such as automatic torch cleaning and Thermal Dynamics Synergic MIG and plasma welding sets.
The whole solution was built in just eight weeks.
In fact the time from the initial phone call from Cell Security to the machine arriving on site was only eleven and a half weeks.
But the real bonus was the fast installation.
Paul Morrison, Production Director of Cell Security, explains: "The machine was delivered at 11.30am and was actually running by 4.00pm".
"It was fully operational within a couple of days, minimising disruption to our production because we needed to continue working at full capacity throughout".
The new robot cell has reduced production time for cell doors to as little as 40 minutes.
But it's in flexibility that the new machine really wins, because the tooling plates can be changed in just 10 minutes, allowing different designs of doors to be produced quickly up to a maximum size of 2.3 x 1.7m.
Obviously, safety is a major consideration with any machine and Fern Engineering designed safety to be an integral part of the solution without slowing down production.
Both horizontal and vertical safety light curtains protect employees from the dangerous moving parts rather than using mechanical guards while rolling curtains help to protect against weld flash.
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