Guyson's dual-arm, dual-chamber robotic blast machine
1 min read
The Guyson Model RB2+2 blasting machine features two separate process chambers in a single blast cabinet, in which a two-armed SDA10D robot from Yaskawa Motoman Robotics has been integrated.
The robot acts as a component manipulator, with one arm and a fixed position blast gun in each compartment. An interior vertical sliding door joins the two chambers, so that after blasting with one media in the first blast enclosure, components can be passed from one robot arm to the other for blasting with a different media in the second blast chamber.
The second process chamber may be used for purposes other than robotic media blasting. It can house a rotary tool, such as a brush or a burr, to which the robot arm presents the component before or after blasting, or it can be set-up with an automated inspection station or a marking device.
Components can be loaded singly for processing in the RB2+2 on a fixture that orientates the part in a known position. Alternatively, multiple components may be arranged on a fixture or tray that carries a production lot of orientated parts, so the work cell robotic blast system completes the precision surface treatment on an entire batch of parts without human intervention.
The robotic blaster can also be integrated with an external conveyor or tray handling system to fully automate loading and unloading.
The flexibility of the RB2+2 allows several other configurations such as one arm to execute the robotic blasting operations, while the other arm functions as a machine tender, loading parts outside the blast enclosure or one arm of the robot manipulates the component while the other directs a suction-blast gun or pressure-blast nozzle.