Compass builds Robotic Deburring System for Fairfield

November 19, 2012 - Compass Automation built an automated gear deburring system for Fairfield Manufacturing Company. This system drastically simplifies the deburring process by giving Fairfield the capability to automatically deburr a wide range of gears safely and efficiently.

Fairfield Manufacturing Company is a worldwide leader in design, manufacturing and supply of gears, gear drives, custom gear assemblies for mobile and industrial machinery. With manufacturing capabilities in the United States, India and China, Fairfield offers custom gears with spur, helical or bevel forms from 20mm through 2M to AGMA Class 14 standards. Fairfield is part of Oerlikon AG, a global technology company with over 16,000 employees in 36 countries.

In order to avoid bottlenecks in the gear manufacturing process, Fairfield needed to make some capital expenditures to ensure they had the bandwidth to take on new business. Fairfield Manufacturing produces a wide variety of gear types, shapes and sizes. This range was causing a bottleneck in their deburring process because of the set-up time needed to go from part to part with the outdated machines they had on their floor. They needed a deburring machine that would be able to switch from gear type “A” to gear type “B” as quickly and easily as possible.

Compass provided a custom-designed, robotic deburring system to Fairfield Manufacturing Company. The system is operator loaded, and was designed with the infrastructure to handle the wide variety of gears that Fairfield manufactures. The custom engineered chuck has the capability to handle gears with a maximum OD of 26 inches, while the tailstock feature allows the machine to accommodate tricky spiral bevel pinion gears. The automated system performs the following functions:

1.The custom workholding chuck engineered by Compass allows the operator to load a wide range of gears into the system. The enclosure is designed to accommodate heavier parts that may need an overhead crane to lift. The system was built to handle any gear with an OD up to 26 inches.

2.After the gear has been loaded into the machine, the operator will select the appropriate program from the “Part Program List” on the HMI. The touch screen interface has the capability to store up to 1000 different part recipes, as well as the ability to back the programs up onto a local network via Ethernet. Once the correct part program has been selected, the Run Screen will appear on the HMI. After the operator confirms that the correct program is selected, he will hit run and the deburring cycle will begin.

3.If this is the first time that Fairfield is running a particular part, the operator will first have to set-up that part in Compass’s custom user-interface. Compass Automation believes that we have a significant competitive advantage when it comes to part programming. Our user-interface allows operators to setup new part recipes in minutes and store them in a database for instant recall in the future. The software allows untrained floor personnel to operate the robot with the push of a button.

To program a new part, an operator must first select which tool he would like to deburr with. Once the tool is selected, he moves the robot into a desired deburring position using the X, Y, Z, W, P, R buttons which represent the 6 axes of the industrial robot (see figure 3). After the robot has been moved into position, the operator records the deburring position and selects the peripheral options to complete the Part Program. The additional options include tool pressure, table rotation speed, table direction, and spindle rotation direction. The part recipe is now complete and can be saved into the Part Database.

4.The tooling designed by Compass Automation allowed Fairfield to use combinations of different deburring media to achieve the required surface finish. The radially compliant tooling with quick change spindles can accommodate a large range of abrasive wheels, brushes, and other specialty deburring media. The compliance force is driven by a pneumatic cylinder and the force is adjustable via the touch screen, inside the recipe setup. The tool is shown below.

5.After the deburring cycle is complete, the operator can choose an option on the HMI to have the robot automatically clean the part. After the clean cycle, the operator simply opens the sliding door and unloads the part. Safety interlock features ensure that the robot is faulted when the door is opened.

Ultimately, the system delivered by Compass made it possible for Fairfield Manufacturing to eliminate an unnecessary bottleneck in their deburring process. The system is being used during all three shifts of the workday and has successfully deburred over 300 different parts. The custom software has stored all of the part recipes and can be instantly recalled when that part is run in the future.

At each stage of the process (design, build, and install), Compass went above and beyond to not only meet, but in many instances exceed Fairfield Manufacturing’s expectations. When asked why he chose Compass to build this system, Larry Delp, Engineering Manager of Fairfield Manufacturing said:

“The reason we chose Compass was we wanted an easy way to go from one gear to the next,” according to the client, who asks that his company remain unnamed. “We needed the ability to run one piece of part ‘A’ then run one piece of part ‘B,’ etc. We felt a robot would be necessary to accomplish this. Compass has the knowledge and expertise to do this. We also liked the fact that Compass had a close relationship with the robotic OEM that would have the technical support and replacement parts available without delay.

Compass seemed to be ahead of the competition when applying this technology to deburring.”