Sports car parts finished with KMT routing systems at Peguform

Citation

(2007), "Sports car parts finished with KMT routing systems at Peguform", Assembly Automation, Vol. 27 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2007.03327aaf.004

Sports car parts finished with KMT routing systems at Peguform

Sports car parts finished with KMT routing systems at Peguform

At the company's plant at Bötzingen in South-West Germany, Peguform is using an installation of four routing systems from KMT Cutting Systems to produce interior components for a Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer. Routing is the preferred finishing technology for the dashboards, door panels and central consoles that Peguform produces in a state-of-the-art facility that brings together slush moulding, injection moulding, foaming and a range of finishing technologies on the same site.

Routing is a dry cut process that utilises an electrically powered routing head with a spindle-mounted bit, which is spun at very high speeds up to 50,000 rpm to trim edges and form holes and slots in a wide range of polymeric materials. The method gives a very accurate material separation and produces a high quality cut edge. Routing can also be used to cut materials to a pre-defined depth which is key to the use of routing in making perforations for air bags.

Of the four KMT routing systems at Peguform, two are dedicated to finishing left and right drive dashboards, two are dedicated to work on driver and passenger side door panels and the fifth is used to rout the central console parts, respectively. Each of the systems is a self-contained unit meeting all EC machinery safety standards, housed in a low footprint enclosure separating the routing process from the operator and the rest of the plant.

The systems have fixtures mounted vertically on a double sided flip-frame, allowing the operator to unload and load a new part, whilst another is being routed on the flipside inside the enclosure, increasing system productivity. At the front of the routing enclosure, there is a rolling door which acts as a protection system for the flip frame. In addition, there is a horizontal light barrier as back-up protection between the rolling door and the flip frame.

The vertical design of the fixture on the flip-frame offers excellent ergonomics for loading parts. The part is fixed in place by a combination of clamping and vacuum suction. Sensors mounted on the fixture detect the presence of the part and whether or not it is properly positioned before the routing cycle can begin. On the dashboard fixtures, there are dedicated sensors feeding the system with measurements of the position of the airbag section, whilst for the door panels, there are sensors to detect whether or not the correct inserts are in place for the side air bag systems.

The routing systems at Peguform are equipped with many of the options available from KMT. The first of these is a fixture change unit with which just one operator can change the fixture on the routing systems in under 3min. It is an easy system to use that also provides secure and space-saving storage for the fixtures when they are not being used.

Another of the options is a barcode reader that reads the barcode on the part to confirm its identity. This is then checked through a production control interface also supplied by KMT, which talks to the plant's manufacturing database to ensure that the part on the fixture is approved for routing. If the database indicates there is a fault, then the routing system is instructed to destroy the part. As well as overseeing the process, the production control interface also saves a full record, comprising some 85 different parameters, of all activity in the routing boxes to a process data system for download to the manufacturing database.

Normally the part is passed for routing, the rolling door is lowered and the cycle is started from a control panel located outside the box. When the part is flipped inside the box, it is marked securely with its part number using an optional laser marking system.

The KMT routing stations feature a single IRB 2400/16 M2000 industrial robot from ABB offering a 16 kg handling capacity and 0.06 mm positional repeatability. Inside the Box, the 400 lux lighting provides excellent illumination for programming the robot. The system utilises the renowned Jäger rage of spindles providing high quality performance for this exacting application (Figure 5).

Figure 5 A KMT routing system installed at Peguform

The routing boxes are equipped with Tool Change Stations, allowing tools to be changed while the routing system is in operation. The optional Tool Change Stations also offer an automatic update of tool parameters through a tool length measuring system that provides an accurate length for each tool in the system.

When installing a new tool on the Tool Change Station, the length is compared to a nominal value and any variance is taken into account when the tool is later used in the routing process, ensuring very high accuracy after each tool change. The measurement system is also utilised to gauge whether or not there has been a break in the tool, performing measurements at programmed intervals and alerting the system if a tool break occurs.

The system automatically measures a tool after change to ensure that a tool of the right length is loaded, hence avoiding any crash in the system. The numbers of cycles a tool should be used before it needs to be changed can be programmed into the system to remove the risk to the routing process and the quality of the parts it produces.

The Tool Change Station also includes a Renishaw 3D sensor – system that is used to take 3D measurements in three corners of the air bag system to ensure that the perforations produced by the routing head for the air bag are to the correct tolerances.

As well as good ergonomics, another advantage of the vertical worktable arrangement is that waste material falls by gravity on to a conveyor below the routing area, from where it is transported out of the box into a waste hopper. In addition, the airborne dust that always accompanies routing is sucked through ducts either side of the worktable, by a high powered air cleaning/filter system that passes the air through filters, before returning the filtered air through floor level vents at the back of the system.

As demonstrated by the systems at Peguform, the routing range from KMT Cutting Systems ensures high position accuracy for the router with very efficient waste disposal. The systems have a small footprint and are easy to install. In fact, the systems offer a “Plug and Produce” capability, allowing them to be started up in just one day, if KMT supplies the fixtures and cutting programs from the beginning. All the routing systems come with a global support package second to none, providing technical, service and parts coverage in virtually every country in the world.

Web site: www.kmtcutting.com