Is My Process Actually Appropriate?

Screwdriving is the second-most frequent meeting activity. However it is usually a tiresome job with many issues when carried out manually. Automated screwdriving affords a extremely efficient resolution… however provided that your activity is appropriate.

Meeting is a core exercise for a lot of producers and screwdriving is an especially frequent operation. In accordance with analysis, the one meeting activity that’s extra prevalent than screwdriving is peg-in-hole.

There are many nice causes to automate your screwdriving activity, together with improved consistency, decreased damage to staff, and excessive accuracy.

The issue is that not all screwdriving duties are appropriate for automation.

If you choose the fallacious activity — or the fallacious kind of automated screwdriving machine —you may find yourself with an automated screwdriving system that does not fit your wants.

What kind of automated screwdriving system do you want?

Individuals generally get the fallacious thought in relation to automated screwdriving. They assume that there are solely two choices: handbook screwdriving or full-scale automation.

In actuality, there are just a few choices for automated, or semi-automated, screwdriving. Any of those is likely to be appropriate to your wants. Which resolution is finest is determined by your state of affairs.

Three frequent choices are:

• Full automated screwdriving machine — These are a kind of typical automation. So that they are usually large, cumbersome, and costly. They embody mounted spindles and fixtures that carry out precisely the identical screwing operation each time. They are perfect for high-volume manufacturing with easy screwdriving duties that by no means change.
• Auto-screw feeder with handheld nutrunner — That is one step up from handbook screwdriving with an electrical screwdriver. The operator holds the nutrunner of their hand, which supplies excessive torque to the screw. The automated side comes from the screw feeder, which robotically feeds the nutrunner with screws.
• Robotic screwdriving — Collaborative robotic screwdriving affords the most effective of each worlds. It’s nearly as versatile as handbook screwdriving for some duties however has the excessive consistency of typical automation.

Earlier than you’ll be able to assess your explicit screwdriving activity for suitability, you have to to determine which of those 3 forms of automation you want.

5 elements that make a screwdriving activity difficult for automation

What makes a screwdriving activity straightforward or troublesome for automation?

When you find yourself manually screwdriving, you may not discover that the duty is definitely fairly advanced. Deceptively advanced.

Robotics researchers broke the duty of screwdriving down into its element components to search out which have been essentially the most difficult.

Listed here are 5 elements that make a activity difficult for automated screwdriving:

1. Unclear understanding of your screwdriving activity

The primary problem comes earlier than you even begin deploying your automated resolution. There are lots of automated screwdriving options in the marketplace. All of them share comparable properties, however some will probably be extra appropriate to your wants than others.

If you do not have a transparent understanding of your screwdriving activity, this could make it very onerous to discover a good resolution to your wants.

2. Screw dishing out

One problem with automation is that every part must be introduced in a managed, constant means. For instance, a screwdriving robotic requires that the screws are introduced in precisely the identical location and orientation each time.

A standard resolution for that is to make use of a screw feeder. This ensures that the robotic will at all times obtain a screw in the fitting means. The Robotiq Screwdriving Resolution contains the Robotiq SF-300 Screw Feeder for this goal.

If every of your assemblies requires dozens of various screw sorts, shapes, and sizes, it turns into quite a bit more durable to dispense the screws correctly.

3. Uncommon, nonferrous screws

A associated drawback is transporting the screw from the feeder to the work area. You don’t need the screw to fall from the robotic’s finish effector when it is in movement. This might result in an incorrectly assembled product.

With ferrous screws, the robotic can maintain maintain of the screw utilizing a magnetic tip. Nevertheless, this does not work for all screw sorts.

In case your activity makes use of an uncommon, nonferrous kind of screw, you may battle to automate it simply.

4. Unusual or advanced screw alignment

Presumably an important and difficult side of automated screwdriving is alignment. The screw have to be completely aligned with the bolt or gap. Whether it is incorrectly aligned, faults like cross-threading can happen, ruining the workpiece.

Your chosen automated screwdriving system ought to be capable to precisely place and align the screw, in addition to account for errors.

In case your screws are very troublesome to align for some cause, it could be onerous to automate the duty with out including additional elements or fixtures.

5. Extreme torque required

There are three fundamental levels to any screwdriving movement: Alignment, rundown, and tightening.

Within the remaining tightening step, the automated system applies torque to the screw, fixing it firmly in place. Your system ought to be capable to assist the torque required. For instance, the Robotiq Screwdriving Resolution can apply torques as much as 4 Nm.

In case your screws require very excessive torques, they may want specialist nutrunners to account for this.

The right way to assess your screwdriving activity for suitability with a robotic

There are some clear indicators {that a} screwdriving activity is appropriate for automation.

Some good guidelines of thumb once you assess a activity for robotic automation are…

• The half may be fixtured
• The duty is straightforward
• Just one human is changed
• Makes use of a single kind of screw
• You’ve gotten operator buy-in
• Extra flooring area is accessible
• Has a excessive influence

You possibly can be taught extra about these in our articles The right way to Appraise Potential Duties for Robotic Screwdriving, and 10 Properties to Search for in a Robotic Screwdriving System.

To search out out concerning the Robotiq Screwdriving Resolution go to our product web page.

Which of your screwdriving duties do you suppose might be appropriate for automation? Inform us within the feedback beneath or be a part of the dialogue on LinkedIn, Twitter, Fb, or the DoF skilled robotics neighborhood.