Two Hands Speed Up Deburring

Abstract

This article describes a study that has been made on the automation of deburring in a foundry. Circular castings weighing up to 20kg are deburred before delivery in order to make them fit into machining cells. The maximum production rate of the cylindrical castings on the foundry line is one casting every ten seconds. However, the castings are produced in small batches, typically ranging from 100 to 1,000. After casting and integrated sand blasting and cooling chambers, the castings are transferred further on a conveyor belt. Deburring is today done manually by lifting and pressing against different grinding and deburring machines. Bins and forklifts are used in transport and storage of castings, from production line to deburring and shipment.

Experiments in robotic fettling using visual feedback

“…Further, compliance control for the deburring operations has also received attention[3]. However, very little attention has been directed at investigating strategies such as visual serving and multi‐arm fettling[4].…”

“…Figure 3 shows an illustration of the ECVWU. The springs provide the compliance and adjust the force/displacement ratio while the limiters are used to protect the springs and the end rod[4]. The die grinder is housed in a specially designed remote centre of compliance (RCC) device.…”