Computer Age Engineering Develops Machining Automation Center
Marion, IN, - Computer Age Engineering, Inc. recently developed an advanced machining automation center. This automation center provides totally automated turning, milling, drilling, and inspection operations for more than a dozen sand cast parts and can run unattended for over 48 hours.
This automation center incorporates various subsystems to process parts including part feeding, machining, inspection, and packing. Part feeding is accomplished via a three-position tote dumper, a conveyor, a backlit shaker bed, and a vision-guided robot. Machining utilizes a four-chuck CNC lathe, a CNC mill tooled with drills, and a robot with a four-gripper hand. The inspection and packing is completed with a highly accurate vision system, a robot, and a conveyor system.
"The success of the development of this machining center is based on our expertise with robotic and vision integration," said Mike Bartrom, President of Computer Age Engineering, Inc. "This was an especially challenging application because sand cast parts vary greatly, as they are not precise castings. We overcame this obstacle by using vision to guide the robots to accurately grip all parts, sort and discard the out of tolerance parts."
To satisfy the needs of our customers, CAE often develops new processes and automation. In this case the part feeding system was created with the flexibility to feed multiple cast parts from large totes for long unattended production runs.
Computer Age Engineering specializes in manufacturing custom automated machinery for numerous industries, including automotive, medical, consumer products, military, heavy equipment, warehouse distribution, construction, special equipment manufacturers, food processing, and aerospace. Computer Age Engineering is ISO 9001 certified and is a FANUC Robotics Level I Authorized System Integrator. For information, call Tim Anger at 765-674-8551, email info@caeweb.com, or log on to www.caeweb.com.
