Robotic Blaster
Automatic blast cleaning with high flexibility for production lines. A robotic blaster is a combination of a shot blasting unit and a multi-axis robot specially engineered to suit specific applications. It can be deployed for different blast cleaning tasks – from deburring and desanding all the way to evidenced documented shot peening.
Typically automobile manufacturers utilise this highly efficient, compact and noise protected blast system to deburr and surface finish bell/gearbox housings made of magnesium alloy in extremely short cycle times, as low as just 26 seconds. In order to handle the components from two parallel pressure die casting lines and place them into the shot blasting unit, the robot can be equipped with a double gripper. In the blast cabin, the bell and gearbox housings are shot blasted by six high performance and efficient blast wheels.
The wire-mesh belt machine
A highly productive and versatile all-round blast cleaning machine guarantees comprehensive, fully automatic processing of various components with complex geometries in a continuous flow through operation.
One of these custom-tailored wire-mesh systems can be offered with eight blast wheels which provides many angles for uniform coverage. This concept of machine can be considered by any company who produces various aluminium pressure die castings, for the automobile industry or others, who require a reproducible, documentable, and highly cost-effective blast cleaning process.
Feeding, transporting through and off-loading the die castings, which could be very sensitive to impingement, could take place on twin tracks and contribute to a significant increase in throughput rates. A typical time for feeding the components to be shot blasted is between 6 and 12 seconds per track.
Following the shot blasting process any cup shaped die castings can undergo a post separation process during which they are rotated several times to ensure that all residual blast media is removed from the components.
Cell Manufacturing Concepts
A single blasting machine can serve multiple casting cells. Whenever raw castings from multiple casting cells must be blast cleaned automatically, solutions are available to minimum floor space for finishing, thereby maximising valuable available manufacturing space.
The blasting machine for a casting cell offers very short cycle times, high component variability and requires very little space. For example, various aluminum castings which have been clipped, weighing up to 35 kg each, can be transported from the casting cells to the shot blasting machine where a handling robot places them into the shot blasting cabinet.
The cabinet can be equipped with a special component fixture designed to be adjusted to different component sizes and geometries. A rotary device installed in the cabin roof starts rotating the fixtured component allowing safe loading of the parts as well as the blast cleaning of all critical areas. When a different component range requires to be processed the fixture can be retrofitted within seconds.
For further information on automated shot blasting click here
Post written by
Haydn Kitchen
Shot Blasting Technical Manager