A truck exhaust manufacturer meets production challenges with an automated workcell.

Automotive component manufacturers continue to face increasingly shorter product lifecycles, more demanding product quality expectations and pressure to reduce productions costs.

Shops in the car and truck exhaust manufacturing sector, for instance, constantly search for greater precision and efficiency in their production processes, so companies, such as AddisonMckee (www.addisonmckee.com), a tubebending and end-forming technology specialist, have increased their interest in fully automated complete workcells to produce quality parts.

Those workcells can include:

• A DataBend, all-electric tube bending machine or machines.
• Tube roll-down racks for tube delivery that are equipped with seam detectors for tube orientation.
• A bend-tool change system.
• A FormMaster tube parting endforming machine.
• A Fanuc R2000iB 165-kg capacity robot.
• A pin stamp station.
• An exit conveyor.
• And, a cell master control unit.

AddisonMckee recently designed and developed a typical, high-level automated system for a global truckexhaust manufacturer.

The system bends large-diameter, thin-wall tubing and is capable of 1D bending of various grades of mild and aluminized stainless steel tubing to 6 in. in diameter with wall thicknesses as thin as 0.065 in.

AddisonMckee’s automated process starts with its special bend-tool change that uses a four-station tool change turntable. The company developed this tool changer specifically for truck exhaust makers that require frequent tool changes because of relatively short production runs.

Whenever a tool change is required, the program triggers the system’s robot to automatically perform the operation.

Embedded within each tool set is a read/write chip that enables the tool change turntable to recognize the tool that is in each location.

With the correct tools in place in the bend die, the robot moves to the automated roll-down rack. Tubes roll into place, a seam-detection device orients each weld seam into the correct position, and the robot picks up the tube from the detector and loads it into the bender.

Once loaded, the bender bends the component accurately and under complete control. Since the system uses a “stick” or “serpentine” bending process, it can bend multiple parts from one tube with minimal scrap and labor.

After tubes are bent, the robot transfers them to a pin-stamp marking system that applies identification, including part and serial numbers.

The robot then positions and holds the bent and marked components while tube trimming and parting end-forming operations are completed. All finished components are then removed, via conveyor, for other forming operations.

Robots challenge traditional machines A Robotic Machining Cell does large-scale five-axis machining. A new robot technology could revolutionize large-format five-axis machining, according to Wisconsin-based Programming Plus Inc. (PPI) (www.programmingplus.com). PPI worked with Kuka Robotics Corp. (www.kukarobotics.com) and Delcam (www.delcam.com) to develop the Robot Machining Cell (RMC) that combines the speed, accuracy and flexibility of Kuka robots with the extensive programming and simulation capabilities of Delcam’s PowerMill software. This machining system allows shops to program and machine products more efficiently and more cost effectively than current large CNC machines. Users can program any three-axis or five-axis part, and can switch from part to part, in a matter of minutes. Previous technology required hours or even days to do the same work, Tom Bentley, president of PPI, said. The RMC system offers all the functionality of a traditional CNC machining center. It incorporates a tool changing high-speed spindle, laser tool probe and laser part probing, and routines developed within the Delcam software quickly produce programs for the robots to smoothly machine large components. RMC systems can use multiple robots and can be configured to handle a 24-ft work diameter. For additional travel, robots can be mounted on linear rails. One system could mill two, three, four or even more parts stationed around it from a single position. And in many instances, it can load and unload its own parts.